The topic of homelessness amongst the LGBTIQ
community is enormously under-researched in
Europe and the research which does exist points
to the same conclusion: the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transsexual, intersex and queer community is vastly
over-represented amongst the homeless popula-
tion, especially in the under-25 age bracket.
The collection of reliable and comparable data on
homelessness is not easy, particularly in Europe
where countries often use different methodologies
and different definitions of what counts as ‘home-
lessness.’ The collection of robust data on the
proportion of homeless people who are LGBTIQ,
therefore, is even more difficult to come by. Esti-
mates included in the article by True Colors, show
that between 20 and 40% of young homeless
people identify as LGBTIQ in the USA and Canada.
In Europe, the figures are less clear, but research
in the UK quotes a figure of 25%. This is a massive
over-representation when one considers that
LGBTIQ people make up about 7% of the general
population.
WHY ARE THE NUMBERS SO HIGH?
A range of reasons have been identified; from
family rejection and bullying at school, to inad-
equate aftercare programmes, abuse, ill-equipped
homeless services and discrimination on the
housing market. From this list alone, it is easy to see
some commonalities between LGBTIQ homeless-
ness and general youth homelessness, which is why
the existing work on LGBTIQ homelessness often
focuses on young people.
By dedicating this edition of the Homeless in Europe
magazine to the issue of LGBTIQ homelessness, we
hope to make a useful contribution to the conver-
sation and to take a first step towards further
FEANTSA work on the topic.
The first contribution in this edition is an article
by Evelyne Paradis of ILGA Europe (the European
Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Trans and Intersex Association), which discusses
why social exclusion and homelessness amongst the
LGBTIQ community is currently so under-studied in
Europe. Paradis makes the important point that very
few activists in Europe advocate on this specific
issue, meaning that the social exclusion of LGBTIQ
communities is often not on the policy-making
agenda.
The second article in the magazine is by Jama
Shelton of the True Colors Fund, a national organi-
sation in the USA, working specifically to end
homelessness among LGBTIQ youth. The article
provides a very helpful introduction to the subject
of LGBTIQ youth homelessness, and explains why it
is so prevalent and what can be done to prevent and
ultimately end it. Shelton also explains the way True
Colors works by focusing on advocacy, training and
education and youth collaboration.
The third article is written by three researchers
from Movisie, the Netherlands Centre for Social
Development, and details a participatory action
study among homeless LGBTIQ young people
in Amsterdam, as well as recommendations for
research and practice.
The fourth article is jointly written by the Rais
Fundación and the Federación Estatal de Lesbianas,
Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales (FELGBT) and
discusses the lack of data in Spain on homelessness
among the LGBTIQ community and makes a plea
for more research to be done and for more collabo-
ration between the homeless sector and LGBTIQ
organisations.
The final article is a review of Where Am I Going to
Go? Intersectional Approaches to Ending LGBTQ2S
Youth Homelessness in Canada & the US – a recent
book edited by Alexander Abramovich and Jama
Shelton, which brings together research in North
America on LGBTIQ homelessness and provides
some concrete examples for solutions.
This is by no means an exhaustive collection of
research or organisations working on this topic and
we encourage you to get in touch if you know of
other innovative practices or useful sources of data.
FEANTSA would like to thank all of the authors who
contributed to this issue of the magazine.
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