Campers, Squatters, or "People Experiencing Houselessness"?

What is the appropriate term for people who live in shacks or tents in the Albany Waterfront  Park (the Bulb)?  One such person, Amber Whitson, has posted on the Sierra Club's website that it is "truly offensive" to refer to her as a "camper" because, she says, the use of the term "is meant to deceive people into thinking that the population out here is recreational in nature." 

As shown in the photo above, it is clearly not appropriate to call all of the residences on the Bulb "camps".  Quite a few are sufficiently solid that, in an earthquake, occupants will face mortal danger.  Many also have large private yards, some of them solidly fenced, which is not something we usually associate with a "campsite".  

Albany’s Homeless Task Force spent much time on this issue.  It eventually settled on the phrase "people experiencing houselessness in Albany".   The sentence "Albany residents care about homeless people here" would be modified accordingly to read:  "Housed Albany residents care about people experiencing houselessness here.” 

Personally, I object to the term "people experiencing houselessness".  A person does not lose his human subjectivity, and become a passive object of his experiences, just because he loses his lease.   So I have been using the word "camper".  It seems to be a simple way to refer to people violating the anti-camping ordinance in the Albany Waterfront Park.  It applies whether the camper is a resident, a transient, a runaway, a protestor, or even the occasional recreationist.  

"Camper" also avoids the use of the word "squatter".  Although "squatter" is the correct term in our language for "a settler who occupies land without legal title", it seems insulting, at least to me.   Yet "squatter" is actually the preferred word by many advocates of its practice.  For example, local anarchist Bay Waters, a Bulb 'resistance' activist, prefers “squatter”:  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/30/18737664.php 

Perhaps "squatter" is the term we should all be using.  It is the most accurate expression for what is happening - the illegal occupation of land, over the objection and to the exclusion of its rightful owners (the general public).   Still, the word seems ugly and unfair to anyone out there who may suffer from such serious mental illness as to lack the mental capacity to understand and pursue housing alternatives and other services that may be available to them. 

So until the high-functioning folks who have chosen the Bulb as a location and lifestyle - the squatters - are sorted out from the de-institionalized mentally ill and others who might want and need help to get back into shelter - the homeless - I am sticking with "campers" to refer to both groups.     

Fair enough, Amber?