Rainbow communities at 'higher risk of homelessness', says new research

Monday, 20 December 2021

In an overheated rental market, Rae Ahern, who is non-binary, says they and their friends change how they dress for viewings so they don't face prejudice.

New research has found that LGBTIQ+ and t akatāpui communities are at “higher risk of homelessness” than the rest of the population.

Discrimination in the rental market is the cause, compounded by structural issues such as racism, poverty and inequality.

The study was led by University of Otago research fellow Dr Brodie Fraser, whose interviews with people from rainbow communities formed the basis of its findings. Stigmatisation in the rental market begot further marginalisation, they said.

“The stressed rental market is a bad time for everyone. But, then, if you’re queer, or trans, and Māori; all these different stigmatised identities just stack up on top of each other. It makes it harder and harder and harder to find a home.”

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Dr Brodie Fraser’s found that discrimination places rainbow communities at “higher risk of homelessness”.

Fraser interviewed eight people for the study, all of whom had experienced severe poverty and financial insecurity before and after being homeless. The small sample size achieved “theoretical sufficiency”, meaning interviews were no longer turning up new themes, even where individual details differed.

A constant among those findings was relentless prejudice from landlords and flatmates. “You see instances where a flatmate will ask a transgender woman to move out because they only want to live with women,” Fraser said. “Trans women are women, and they shouldn’t find themselves homeless just for being who they are.”

The housing market was particularly hostile towards transgender Māori, to the extent that even having a “perfectly good job and glowing references” offered little assurance of finding a home.

The study found that takatāpui (Māori who identify with diverse sexes, genders and sexualities) and LGBTIQ+ people were repeatedly failed by institutions, such as government agencies and social service organisations. In some cases, people were caught in “horrible loops”, trapped by “rigid, inflexible, pointless requirements” which prevented them from getting assistance.

Fraser relayed the story of a young transgender person, who went to Work and Income to apply for an independent youth benefit. “The case manager said: ‘well, actually, your parents have said they’ll take you back if you stop being trans, so there’s no relationship breakdown – you’re fine to go home’.”

Fraser says experiences of homelessness among queer communities are under-researched, but data captured in the 2023 census could enable further studies in the area.

The solution, in some ways, was simple: those institutions needed to be “more flexible”, compassionate, and sensible. There also needed to be “tighter regulation” of the private rental market, in order to prevent landlords from discriminating against people on the basis of their sexuality, or gender identity, Fraser said.

Renters United spokesperson Ashok Jacob said an independent regulatory body should be established to police breaches in the rental market. Even if discrimination was difficult to prove, the presence of a regulatory authority would act as a deterrent, he said.

Fraser’s study is groundbreaking: research about the experiences of homelessness amongst takatāpui people in New Zealand is scarce. International research, however, has found between 20 and 40 per cent of homeless populations are LGBTIQ+, despite that group making up an estimated 5 to 10 per cent of the wider population.

The 2018 census found more than 41,000 New Zealanders were homeless – almost one per cent of the population. And even though rates of homelessness have steadily increased since 2001, there are no statistics on homelessness among rainbow communities.

Earlier in the year, research found “not heterosexual renters” were twice as likely to be evicted. That research, however, was based on the General Social Survey, a biannual survey of 8000 people by Stats NZ, and did not capture diverse gender identities.

The 2023 census was set to capture data around queer communities, with a recommendation to also include variations in sex characteristics in the core questionnaire, meaning intersex data could also be captured.

Fraser was buoyed by that decision, and hoped it would lead to further research once the census findings were disseminated into the integrated data infrastructure (IDI) research database. “If I can ever get the funding … I’m hoping we’ll be able to have a look at that whole-of-population data, and see how many people experiencing homelessness in New Zealand are queer.”

InsideOUT managing director Tabby Besley said queer communities were adept at navigating oppressive systems, even if they shouldn’t need to be.

There was a thriving network of dedicated housing groups on social media, which rainbow renters could access to find queer-friendly flats, she said.