scatter site

noun

An area of state-sponsored housing used as a shelter for homeless people; such housing is scattered across different parts of a city rather than concentrated in one place.

Meanings

nounscatter site (plural scatter sites)

plural scatter sites

  1. An area of state-sponsored housing used as a shelter for homeless people; such housing is scattered across different parts of a city rather than concentrated in one place.

    Living conditions in scatter sites depend largely on landlords' compliance and a little bit of luck.

    2002, City Limits, volume 27, number 8, page 24
    2 more examples

    It is designed for single-family use in subdivisions or scatter sites and available as a standardized product […]

    1976, Cost effective housing systems for disaster relief, volume 4, page 131

    Between 1998 and 2005, the number of homeless families sleeping in New York City shelters, purchased hotel rooms ("welfare hotels"), and scatter site housing increased by 95 percent, […]

    2007, Jill Gerson, Hope Springs Maternal, page 10
Cite this entry
APA

scatter site. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scatter%20site

MLA

“scatter site.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scatter%20site. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scatter site,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scatter%20site.

Source: scatter site on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.