Portland Needs Dedicated Housing for Unhoused Trans & Queer Community
Equi Institute Executive Director, Katie Cox testified at the March 16th, 2022 Portland City Council meeting to address the complete lack of safe & low-barrier transgender & queer housing solutions as Portland City Council proclaimed March 21st-March 25th LGBTQ+ Health Awareness Week.
Housing = Healthcare
While there is little existing information about the number of transgender people experiencing homelessness, the few data sets relative to this population, tell a similar story: transgender people are more likely to be unsheltered than their cisgender peers, and those who are unsheltered have considerably more health and safety challenges than those who are sheltered. Transgender folks are disproportionately unsheltered, over 63% are living unsheltered compared to 49% of the cisgender population.
On top of that, unsheltered transgender folks experience higher levels of vulnerability on nearly all levels:
The Vulnerability Index and Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT) is a widely used assessment instrument that helps communities triage people experiencing homelessness for the most appropriate housing resources based on several criteria. OrgCode Consulting developed the tool and has also released anonymized data for the period of 2/1/15-4/13/18. The data is self-reported information for individual adults age 25 and older.
Table 1 indicates that across a spectrum of health and behavioral health domains, unsheltered transgender people are considerably more ill than those in shelter. It also indicates that in terms of survival behaviors, risk and safety, unsheltered people are more challenged than sheltered people.
One thing we do know is that mass shelters don’t work for queer and trans people, and in fact could further endanger them. Instead, we need housing, shelters, and wrap-around services that are community-specific and community-led. Unhoused trans & queer community members are often shut out of existing temporary and permanent housing options, due to pervasive discrimination, and it’s time to take action.
“Despite this disproportionate representation, the City’s houselessness policies do not adequately take into account the unique needs of transgender people experiencing houselessness. Furthermore, many City-funded shelters are gendered, making them inaccessible to non-binary people and unsafe for transgender people. We need dedicated and diverse housing options for our unhoused trans & queer neighbors.”