Homelessness is an absolutely devastating experience. Homelessness has a significant negative impact on an individual’s health, functioning, human development, and life trajectory. LGBTQ+ youth are significantly overrepresented in homeless populations compared with the general population. The Voices of Youth Count project from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago found that LGBTQ+ young adults are more than twice as likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ+ peers. Further, black or multiracial LGBTQ+ youth reported the highest rates of homelessness at sixteen percent, and white LGBTQ+ youth report a rate of eight percent.
LGBTQ+ youth experience homelessness at higher rates than non-LGBTQ+ youth for a variety of reasons. A study of more than 350 runaway and homeless providers throughout the United States identified four top causes for homelessness among LGBTQ+ youth:
- Family rejection resulting from sexual orientation or gender identity;
- Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse;
- Aging out of the foster care system; and
- Financial and emotional neglect.
Another study that interviewed LGBTQ+ youth who experienced homelessness found that the path to homelessness was described as “a gradual escalation of the parent-child conflict over time, or a growing sense of rejection in the home…” This finding suggests there may be more opportunity to intervene before an LGBTQ+ youth becomes homeless.
In shelters, while searching for housing, and on the streets, LGBTQ+ youth endure traumatic experiences, such as harassment, stigmatization, and abuse from peers and shelter staff as a result of their sexual orientation and/or gender expression. LGBTQ+ youth can find it difficult to find housing and are sometimes asked to leave shelters after revealing their sexual or gender identity.