LGBT YOUNG PEOPLE Homelessness
Vulnerable Groups Socio-economic exclusion n Disrupted childhoods n Care leavers n Young offenders n Runaways n LGBT young people (could be any or all of above) n
LGBT Homeless Young People USA: between 20 and 40% n Similar findings in UK n
Stonewall Housing 2001 n n being lesbian or gay can in itself cause some young people to become homeless even when not a direct cause of homelessness, a young person’s sexuality can be one of the causal factors being lesbian or gay could add to the housing difficulties a young person experiences young lesbians and gay men are completely invisible in most housing and homelessness services
Stonewall Housing Association, London n n 1983 first Housing Association aimed exclusively at meeting the needs of lesbians and gay men. Targeted youth Funders: Association of London Governments; Supporting People in Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Newham; Bridge House Trust; City Parochial Foundation; Comic Relief
Albert Kennedy Trust, Manchester & London n n The Albert Kennedy Trust was set up in Manchester in 1990. Its aim is to ensure that all LGBT young people are able to live in accepting, supportive and caring homes, by providing a range of services to meet the individual needs of those who would otherwise be homeless or living in a hostile environment. They plan to meet their aim by: n n n Providing appropriate homes through supported lodgings, fostering and other specialist housing schemes. Enabling young people to manage independent living successfully. Improving attitudes within society towards lesbian, gay and bisexual young people.
Newcastle City Council: Supporting People Sector Briefing, Services for young people (2008 -2013) LGBT young people identified as vulnerable to homelessness. n Non-emergency access: 41 units (inc 8 LGBT specialist unit) + 63 Foyer units, 10 supported lodgings n Floating support: 555 hours across tenure; plus 2 LGBT units n
Julie’s Story
NAT Holistic Assessment n n n n Age of coming out dropped to 14. 8 years Fewer out to parents, more parental rejection Fewer had positive response when they first came out Only 18% had positive information about homosexuality at school More aware of sexuality whilst at school More experienced homophobic bullying but slightly fewer witnessed it More truanted or dropped out of school as result of bullying Significantly more teachers responded positively when LGBT young person came out to them More experienced a homophobic hate incident Rise in levels of alcohol and drug use and smoking Similar (high) levels of rape and sexual abuse High levels of depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide attempts, phobias 26% experienced homelessness
Examples from GALYIC n n n n 15 year old young gay man thrown out day before GCSE exams 22 year old trans Asian disowned by family and death threat 22 year old gay Asian forced marriage 14 year old young gay man put on plane from Caribbean 16 year old lesbian couple rejected by families 13 year old young lesbian rejected by step-families 15 year old young gay man rejected by step-father Lesbians door kicked in
Why are LGBT Youth vulnerable to Homelessness Parental rejection/lack of acceptance n Fear of parental rejection/lack of acceptance n Homophobia/transphobia in housing projects n Fear of homophobia/transphobia in housing projects n Vulnerability not taken seriously n
Effects of Homelessness Substance misuse n Sexual exploitation n Mental health problems n Isolation from LGBT community n Disengagement from services that don’t meet their needs n Underachievement in school n
10. Integrated Services Include LGBT youth amongst client group 1998 2008 3 6
Monitoring Data There are three good reasons for including sexual orientation and gender identity in monitoring collection: 1. Government says agencies must monitor the six equality strands 2. The data (if collected properly) can help you identify gaps in service provision 3. It can help you find out whether the needs of specific groups are being met.
Supported Lodgings
Key Choice: 16 -25 years
Recommendation 1: Monitoring & Assessment n n n Need to improve assessment of LGBT youth making homelessness applications to LA in order to identify vulnerability and priority need Explain why collecting data Where place question on form? Include trans status Monitoring followed up by referral to appropriate service Analysis of data to inform service provision
Recommendation 2: Making Services Safer n n n Management/frontline staff awareness training Challenging homophobia amongst service users More LGBT-providers in Supported Lodgings Adopt similar approach as Newcastle City Council? National Youth Homelessness Scheme website
Recommendation 3: Prevention LGBT Family Mediation Service n Preventative work in schools and children and young people’s services to tackle homophobia and support LGBT young people n
SUPPORTING PEOPLE Supporting People is the government's long term policy to enable local authorities to plan, commission and provide housing-related support services that help vulnerable people to live independently. It provides the means through which national and local Government ensure that the most vulnerable members of our community get the help and support they need.
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