Improve safety in and access to homeless services for transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) Detroiters.
Housing and homelessness programs in Detroit have consistently failed TGNC people experiencing homelessness, particularly TGNC people of color, by the account of members of the TGNC community in Detroit. Programs are often designed around the needs of cisgender community members and do not reflect the needs of TGNC community members, further complicating the safety risks and realities that TGNC people experience across the country.
Many shelters and housing programs have no policies in place that specify protections for TGNC clients, and it was specified by community members that there is a severe lack of services for TGNC people experiencing homelessness aside from HIV/AIDS support programs.
According to most recent national estimates, 8% of transgender people experienced homelessness in the last year, compared to 1% of cisgender straight adults.(1) Data further confirm that people of color (30.2% vs. 13.5%) and transgender (28.0% vs. 14.6%) people were much more common to have been homeless at some point in their lives than white and cisgender people.(2) As we seek to do better for the TGNC community in Detroit, it must be acknowledged that not only do the present strategies not work—they actively cause harm. This issue demands the greatest possible focus from systems leaders and community members in order to create both short- and long-term solutions.
Other common insights and themes that emerged from interviews and the community workshop include:
- Discrimination within homelessness response system
- Avoidance of services for fear of physical/mental safety
- Misgendering within housing services
- Physical and mental safety threats of gender segregation within housing system
- Lack of services for TGNC people unless those services are tied to HIV/AIDS funding
- Lack of process for feedback within services and a fear of retaliation for feedback
- Lack of TGNC-specific housing case management and supports
- Lack of TGNC-specific supports around employment
- Need of both formal and informal support systems
My gender identity and expression made me not be taken serious in the shelter system. It gave me a distrust about myself and with those who run the programs
TGNC Community Member in Detroit
Fund programs run by and for transgender and gender non-conforming people and/or TGNC-specific housing spaces and services.
In interviews and ongoing advisory relationships with TGNC community members, they identified the meaningful impact on both formal and informal peer support. Additionally, outcomes for TGNC people are far more positive when there is robust peer support in place.(3) Feedback from TGNC community members indicated that in order to fund TGNC-run programs, low barriers for funding need to be in place. Support for these organizations and their clients’ needs to be streamlined and accessible. Often, when a system is operating in scarcity, services and programs for special populations are the first to be cut. However, TGNC people experiencing homelessness need supports and protections specific to transgender identity.(4) These services also need to provide support to the many intersecting identities that TGNC individuals may hold, such as living with disabilities.
My gender identity and expression made me not be taken serious in the shelter system. It gave me a distrust about myself and with those who run the programs.
TGNC Community Member in Detroit
Strategy in Action
The House of Tulip is a housing program in New Orleans run by and for TGNC community members. They are raising funds to buy and restore a multi-family property in an area of New Orleans that’s accessible to health care and employment opportunities. It’s a pilot permanent housing campus, and it will house up to 10 TGNC people at a time. Additionally, they’re working to acquire a separate space that can serve as a community center where TGNC people can safely access social safety net navigation, community programming, a hot meal, a shower, or a safe place to just hang out or do schoolwork.
GLITS, a Black transgender-led organization in New York City, creates holistic solutions to the health and housing crises faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals experiencing systemic discrimination at intersecting oppressions impacted by racism and criminalization, through a lens of harm reduction, human rights principles, social justice and community empowerment. In the upcoming year, GLITS will launch a new housing site with 12 apartments. Each unit will be filled by a member of the LGBTQIA+ community who is experiencing homelessness. This transitional housing will go far beyond the scope of a shelter to offer dignified long-term stability for residents who will engage with continuing education, training, counseling, and career development resources. Stipends are offered to residents as a means to engage with meeting their basic needs self-sufficiently.
Enforce the Equal Access Rule by developing an effective accountability process for equal access violations.
HUD’s Equal Access Rule requires that HUD-funded housing services be provided without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Although it is stated in the CoC non-discrimination policy that all housing and services coordinated through the Continuum of Care must be available to all eligible persons regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, anecdotal evidence from interviews with TGNC community members suggests that not only is that not always enforced by the housing programs they have navigated, it is often actively and knowingly ignored.
It is recommended that a grievance process be created that includes meaningful accountability and thorough documentation. Clients also need assurance that their grievances will not lead to them losing their ability to access services – TGNC community members in our listening sessions cited fear of retaliation as a major reason for not coming forward with grievances and Equal Access violations.
Frontline staff have a particular role to play in building safety for TGNC clients. In conversations with TGNC community members, it was often stated that a lack of support system, particularly in regard to mental health, was crucial to their survival. It was also stated that while sometimes frontline staff were trained in LGBTQ competency, the training did not necessarily translate to increased safety or lack of traumatizing experiences for TGNC clients at the hands of people working in shelters and housing programs. Cultural competency trainings must be thorough, intentional, and informed by the communities they are designed to protect.
No shelter in Detroit will let you enter shelter of your gender identity if they knew you were Trans.
TGNC Community Member in Detroit
Strategy in Action
HUD, in partnership with a group of TGNC advocates, developed and published guidance for communities on implementing the Equal access rule across shelters and supported housing programs. Equal Access for Transgender People: Supporting Inclusive Housing and Shelters, offers guidance on the regulations, best practices in making housing affirming and inclusive, and sample policy and procedures.
Promote TGNC Leadership by creating and supporting opportunities for TGNC leadership at the system and agency level.
Individuals with the most compounded marginalized identities, such as transgender women of color, have particular insight not only into what it would take to create safety for their own communities, but for all communities.(5) In order for TGNC-specific programs to thrive, they need sustained TGNC leadership and that leadership needs to be meaningfully supported. There is expertise that already exists within the TGNC community that is essential in establishing conditions for TGNC people to survive and thrive. TGNC individuals often have an increased capacity to lead based on the resiliency and problem-solving skills they have had to develop by the very nature of their experiences and identity.(6)
When TGNC people are given an opportunity to build their leadership capacity, they find opportunities to tell their own stories, and this can be a transformative force. These leaders become role models within communities and have the ability to impact the lives and experiences of their peers, both cisgender and gender-expansive.
I think my experience in my homelessness journey would have been a lot different if a Trans person was there because then they could understand the things that I was going through and the reasons for my discomfort.
TGNC Community Member in Detroit
Strategy in Action
Catalyst Transgender Leadership Program is a year-long program for a selected cohort of 15-20 transgender Oregonians. Participants attend monthly retreats where they work to refine their leadership skills while building community with each other. Workshops are facilitated by transgender leaders who work with the cohort to create a safe, affirming, and connective space for all.
The mission of the Transgender Cultural District in San Francisco is to create an urban environment that fosters the rich history, culture, legacy, and empowerment of transgender people and its deep roots in the southeastern Tenderloin neighborhood. The transgender district aims to stabilize and economically empower the transgender community through ownership of homes, businesses, historic and cultural sites, and safe community spaces.
The Trans Leadership Initiative (TLI) of the Campaign for Southern Equality provides intensive support to new groups of trans leaders from across the South each year. The initiative offers leadership coaching, funding, and technical assistance to grow their leadership and help strengthen their vital work in local communities.