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THE LGBT YOUTH HOMELESSNESS CHARITY
LGBT YOUTH HOMELESSNESS:National Scoping Report 2015
Providing safe homes for LGBT young people aged 25 or younger who:
»Are homeless
»At risk of homelessness
»Living in a hostile environment
Our Service Offer
• Safe Homes
– Supported Lodgings
– Purple Door Project
– Emergency Support
• Advocacy & support
• Mentoring & eMentoring
• Life skills training
• Training for providers
AKT’s Purple Pathway
Wherever possible AKT focuses on interventions which prevent homelessness. But when this is not possible or safe for the young person we provide: support from emergency intervention through to helping young people live independently by securing accomodation, training, education and employment
Service User Profile: London
• Majority need emergency care and support
• 37% / 63% Female / Male Ratio
• 65% are from Black, Asian or Minority ethnic heritage
• 10% Trans
• 13% Bisexual
• 22% living with a disability
• 21% come from strong faith / religious backgrounds
CASE STUDIES
*not actually Jonathan
Our Reach
__
Newcastle
Manchester
London
18 Members of Staff150 + Volunteers
Over 2,000 calls each year1,000 hours of mentoring8,000 nights off the street
eMentoring
In 2015 we launched our first national online service
• ‘eMentoring’ offers online support to young LGBT facing homelessness across England, Scotland and Wales
• A preventative service helping young people navigate coming out to their parents with support and information on what to do and where to seek further help if things go wrong
Issues faced by Young People
• Many have faced domestic violence or abuse from a partner / family member or sexual exploitation
• Nearly 70% of young people we see are affected by mental health / wellbeing issues
• Other issues include:• Forced Marriage
• Low self-esteem
• Substance abuse
• Honour based violence
National Scoping Report 2015
Why?
• Scarcity of research / evidence of level and scope of need
• Significant increase in people accessing AKT
• Evidence from north America showing a disturbing trend, with 40% of youth homeless identifying as LGBT
• To raise awareness of the importance of this issue
Methodology
• Comprehensive literature review of published and unpublished research (international)
• Survey of housing providers (England, Scotland & Wales)
• Survey of LGBT organisations (England, Scotland and Wales)
• Vox Pop involving AKT service users and young people attending Pride events (England)
Findings: Summary
Literature review: LGBT young people are
• significantly over-represented within the youth homelessness population
• are at significantly higher risk of exposure to a range of experiences associated with becoming homeless, in particular: parental rejection, familial physical / sexual / emotional abuse and familial violence
• are more likely to experience targeted violence and discrimination
• are significantly more likely to experience mental health, substance misuse and sexual exploitation than their peers
• are less likely to seek support than their non-LGBT peers
There is also a significant lack of monitoring and targeted service provision for LGBT Homeless youth
Housing Providers:
• cited their primary reason for non-collection of LGBT data as ‘not relevant’ or ‘no external requirement to do so’
• less than 3% had designed initiatives targeting LGBT clients that were being implemented and accessed appropriately
LGBT Organisations:
• Identified familial rejection, abuse and violence as the three most common causes of homelessness amongst their service users
• the majority of their service users disclosed experiences of homelessness, risk of homelessness or living in a hostile environment
Young People’s Vox Pop
• a negative impact upon physical and mental health was reported by 68% of respondents who had been previously homeless and 83% of those currently homeless (only half had sought help)
• the majority of respondents believed identification as LGBT was a causal factor for homelessness
• when asked what would have helped during periods of homelessness the most common responses were:
access to mental health services,
social support,
substance misuse support
knowledge and access to homelessness services
Recommendations
• That young people who cannot remain at home because of the threat of rejection, violence and abuse after coming out to their parents retain access to housing benefit after the proposed welfare reforms
• Universal mandatory monitoring of sexual and gender identity, to improve service delivery intelligence and quality (enhanced also through training)
• Improved regulation of the private rented sector – resulting in regulations that ensure safe and affordable accommodation for those young people who cannot remain at home.
• Review the definition and restrictions of ‘local connection’ to account for the significant risks faced by LGBT young people
Conclusion
• Based on the evidence of our report, at any one time up to 4,800 LGBT young people could be homeless or at risk of homelessness. This translates to an actual need for up to 1.7m bed nights per annum.
• With 77% of LGBT youth homelessness related to familial rejection, abuse and violence, there is a clear need to focus on social intervention through working with families, supportive faith leaders and schools
The value of working with voluntary sector
• AKT’s Purple Door emergency house in London saved the public purse an estimated £1.5m in it’s first two year of operation and cost less than £250k to run during that period.
• With 81 pence in the pound spent directly on service provision at AKT, the voluntary sector is a prudent and effective way to prevent youth homelessness.
Next Steps
AKT will be:
• Producing a social impact report to show the value of early intervention and the cost of not addressing the issue of LGBT youth homelessness
• Undertaking a more in-depth study, which focuses on geographical distribution of LGBT homelessness and captures more qualitative information
