CALL TO ACTION: Submit a comment to preserve equal access for transgender people seeking safe shelter
Source: Housingsaveslives.org
For some, access to a safe and permanent home starts in the shelter.
By: Chris Knestrick
Homelessness disproportionately impacts LGBTQ people. Spend a day with one of NEOCH’s outreach workers and you will see what years of bias and discrimination have caused in our community. This reality demands that emergency shelters, the cornerstone of crisis response, provide low-barrier access without discrimination. To allow service providers to discriminate against transgender people and prevent them from entering shelters is wrong, it threatens the life of the individual, and disposes of their human dignity.
The Trump Administration has pushed for a proposed rule change that will allow federally-funded homeless shelters to deny access to temporary housing based on gender identity. This month, the rule has been placed on the official federal registry. If approved, it will revoke a 2016 decision and deny life saving access to temporary housing to an already targeted community.
This rule change will prolong a person’s homelessness and it goes against best practices by exacerbating trauma. We need policies that support people to get into permanent housing as quickly as possible. Homelessness should be rare, brief, and non-recurring. We have long called for eliminating barriers to shelter access because it provides a rapid and streamlined approach to permanent housing, reduced harm, and it protects targeted populations.
The road to homelessness and the experience itself is filled with trauma. Rather than eliminating protections, we should be working to improve services that support the LGBTQ community. Shelters themselves continue to struggle to be safe spaces. Just this week, NEOCH received a call from a gender nonconforming person who was assaulted with a broom stick for attempting to use the restroom at one of the shelters. We need to do more to build policies and practices that respond to the unique needs and safety concerns of LGBTQ folks.
Studies show that 40% of homeless youth served by community organizations identify as LGBTQ and 30% of transgender people will experience homelessness as some point in their lives. This disproportional representation is telling, though not surprising. Transphobia and heterosexism continue to infest our churches, institutions and culture. If we are serious about ending homelessness, our society needs to break down barriers and end discrimination. For homeless shelters, it starts with providing equal access free from discrimination and ends with building policies and practices that are centered on the experience of the LGBTQ community.
Housing insecurity puts transgender people’s lives at risk every day. Making sure people can access temporary and permanent housing is paramount when violence against transgender people is on the rise. Did you know that six transgender women have been killed in Greater Cleveland, which is the second highest number of deaths among all metropolitan areas in the country? In 2018, Cleveland had two violent attacks and two black transgender women, Phylicia Mitchell and Keisha Wells, were murdered. In April of 2019, Claire Legato, was one of the twenty-seven deaths of transgender and non-conforming people in the U.S. that year.
Thankfully, Cuyahoga County Council passed an ordinance expanding laws to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. However, our homeless system could do more to keep people safe and to quickly end a person’s housing crisis. For example, we could direct Rapid Rehousing, a short-term rental assistance and service program, to specifically support the LGBTQ community. We already do this with families and youth in our community. We could also invest in permanent housing and emergency shelter that is specifically designed by and for the LGBTQ community. Such programs would offer individuals the ability to obtain housing quickly and reduce the number of days people are homeless in our community.
Currently, local state senator Nickie Antonio and the progressive organization Equality Ohio are leading efforts to expand protections across the state. The Ohio Fairness Act, or SB 11, would guarantee that people would be able to access state funded emergency shelters across the state free from discrimination if it passes. You can support this work by contacting your state legislators and invite them to support SB 11.
Housing is a human right that shall be afforded to all people. Having a place to call home means stability, safety, and acceptance. It is where people are welcomed, grow and find dignity. Rather than making space for discrimination and bigotry, we should be working to end all forms of discrimination in our community. For some, access to a safe and permanent home starts in the shelter.