Extreme heat predicted for Friday July 12 -Sunday July 14. The City of Denver has opened cooling centers at all rec centers during normal operating hours. Stay in the shade, drink water, and stay safe!
Extreme heat predicted for Friday July 12 -Sunday July 14. The City of Denver has opened cooling centers at all rec centers during normal operating hours. Stay in the shade, drink water, and stay safe!
Click here to read the one-pager
Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community face legal and societal barriers that disproportionately impact their ability to access housing, shelter, and health services. As a result, they experience homelessness at higher rates than heterosexual individuals that are similarly situated in terms of income, family size.
Family rejection, structural discrimination, neglect, and abuse because of their sexual and gender status push many LGBTQ+ youth into homelessness.1
“I think losing your home creates an instability and a distrust of community, almost a paranoia about how the streets will treat you. Being unhoused is traumatic in itself, and then you have these messages of not being accepted and not deserving, particularly, young LGBTQ+ youth and adults who have internalized such negative, oppressive messages.” Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, lost her home in her teens, and now she heads the state’s leading LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.
Housing is fundamental to the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ Coloradans. It is essential for LGBTQ+ policy to focus on equitable access to affordable housing and for housing policy to center the specific needs of this community. Policy solutions may include:
LGBTQ+ status should not prevent individuals and families from accessing safe and stable housing. Long Standing barriers to housing can be addressed through inclusive housing policy.
From better health to food security to good education, housing is foundational to every aspect of well-being, building stronger communities, promoting economic growth, and providing opportunities for everyone to thrive. Our Colorado-based, multi-sector coalition is working in coordination with the National Low-Income Housing Coalition to generate widespread support for local, state, and federal policies that correct long-standing racial inequities and economic injustices that have prevented access to affordable, quality housing for people with low incomes
SOURCES:
1 Download.ashx (akt.org.uk)
2 LGBT People and Housing Affordability, Discrimination, and Homelessness – Williams Institute (ucla.edu)
3 Serving Our Youth – Williams Institute (ucla.edu)
4 Homeless transgender individuals | Gender Affirming Health Program (ucsf.edu)
5 Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people | Prison Policy Initiative
6 Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States: National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012 - PMC (nih.gov)
7 OCEF_BK-Closing The Gap 9-19.indd (one-colorado.org)
8 Issue Brief-LGBTQ and Homelessness_2021 FINAL.pdf (coloradocoalition.org)
9 https://one-colorado.org/lgbtq-resources/anti-discrimination-laws-colorado/
10 ibid
11 www.hrc.org/resources/fair-and-equalhousing-act