AJ, left, 23, and his boyfriend, Alex, 21, live on the streets. Photo: Christina House / LA Times
This article tries to summarise the situation regarding homelessness in the gay community.
Homelessness mainly affects young gay teenagers, but can also affect older gay people. Social services have more involvement with younger homeless gay people and there is more known about their needs than the needs of older homeless gay people. Homelessness is a hidden problem which happily does not affect the majority of people, and because it is difficult to see it, the problem remains hidden and relatively unknown.
Estimates of how many young gay people are affected by homelessness vary widely. Studies in the USA estimate between 25 per cent and 42 per cent of homeless youth are LGBT, compared to 5 – 7 per cent of the population as a whole. In the UK, Homeless Link estimated in 2010 that 7 per cent of clients using homelessness services were LGBT. In 2012 The New Statesman estimated that 25% of young homeless people were LGBTI and that government policies hit young people particularly hard. All agree that the problem is continually getting worse.
In December 2010 the Los Angeles Times found that 40% of the homeless youths in Hollywood identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation. Five percent were transgender. Many young gay teens who are living on the streets may not necessarily look as though they are, which helps the problem to hide from wider society.
Gay Activist has not been able to discover any reliable estimates of how many older gay people are affected by homelessness whether in the UK, Europe or elsewhere. The fire at London’s Dream City cinema killed a number of older gay men who had nowhere else to go in the daytime to keep warm and dry.
What causes homelessness in the gay community?
Intolerant or prejudiced parents, school, environment.
Homophobic bullying and victimisation at school or college.
Having been in care and not having a family.
Isolation and emotional distress following rejection by family and friends.
Mental health issues from difficulties coming to terms with sexual or gender identity.
Experience of homophobia and transphobia when accessing services and organisations, particularly if they involve remarks, gestures, verbal and physical abuse and harassment.
Escape from violence or abuse.
Exploitation and risky behaviour, alcohol and drug use, or trading sex for a place to stay.
Invisibility and lack of awareness of needs or encouragement to be open about sexual orientation or gender identity.
Being rejected by parents and thrown out of your home because you are gay particularly affects sub-communties within society. Muslim gays, for example, may be kidnapped, taken abroad, forced into marriage and have to escape. Gays in other communities may be pressurised into having ‘treatment’ or ‘exorcism’.
Domestic violence or other abuse experienced in a relationship.
Gay teenagers do not regard traditional homeless shelters as safe, so agencies try to provide separate shelters for them. There is a desperate lack of these; gay charities have been formed to raise awareness and build these shelters. However, the actual level of homophobia in traditional shelters may be less than young gay people imagine it to be.
Many young gay people hang around gay haunts or use the internet to find a sex partner just for somewhere to sleep for the night. Once in someone else’s home, the homeowner may impose their requirements and rules on the younger person. This places vulnerable young people to greater risk.
Like other groups of homeless people, LGBT homeless people become rootless and may spend short periods of time in different cities. In 2000, OUT Magazine reported that numbers of homeless LGBT youths would appear in San Francisco, live on the streets there for a few months then move on; years later the same people would reappear in San Francisco and were still homeless.
It is clear that the problem of homelessness in the gay community has been around and has been getting steadily worse for many years.
If you are thinking about coming out to your parents, and you have any fears that they may not be happy with that information, most gay organisations would tell you not to come out to them, to put that on hold until you have a secure home of your own.
If you find you are homeless:
Contact your local gay switchboard or gay community centre and ask to be put in touch with a homelessness organisation
See if there are any family or friends that you can stay with
Local authorities in the UK have responsibility for making sure that the needs of homeless gay people, regardless of their age, are recognised and served, and that homeless gay people have access to those services. They are also required to develop prevention strategies to reduce homophobia in society including within their services, and in schools and in the home.
Further reading
SNS: Homeless gay people in the Netherlands
Homeless Pages UK: Lesbians and gay men
Inside Housing; Young homeless gay men using sex to gain shelter
Homeless UK: Lesbian and gay people and homelessness
The National Youth Homelessness Scheme, UK
BBC News: Gay Muslims being made homeless
Other resources
More information will be added to this page as it becomes available.
Page updated 23 April 2012
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