Pride in all we do

Hot on the heels of June’s Pride Month, and Bristol’s Pride Festival, Homes in Sedgemoor’s Emily Bull shares her thoughts on how social housing providers support the LGBTQ+ Community.

There have been huge strides in LGBTQ+ rights and representation in the UK since the first pride march was held in London on the 1^st of July 1972, and while each of the changes and steps forward made have each made a difference there is still a long way to go.

As a lesbian and non-binary individual, I’m often thinking about how to create equitable spaces and opportunities in both my personal and professional life – one area comes back to me again and again. Home. This should be a place of safety and security for everyone but some people are disproportionately likely to end up homeless – akt reports that 24% of homeless young people (16-25) are LGBTQ+.

For those that have a home, I think the additional pressures are best summed up by a report published in February 2018 ‘No Place Like Home?’. HouseProud, a network of LGBTQ+ people working in social housing, commissioned this report in 2017 to undertake research on the experiences of LGBTQ+ social housing residents, the research was undertaken by the University of Surrey.

Key Findings

What do LGBTQ social housing residents feel about where they live and who visits their home?

32% felt their neighbourhood was not a safe place to live as an LGBTQ person; this was 60% amongst trans respondents. In interviews/focus groups people spoke of disturbing experiences of harassment and hate crime.

35% were not open at all with their neighbours about their sexual orientation and 36% reported that they were uncomfortable having neighbours in their home, a figure that rose to 91% for trans individuals. Some residents spoke about harassment and abuse from neighbours yet felt housing providers do not deal with it effectively.

21% of survey respondents reported that they were uncomfortable with repairs people entering their home and with 24% their landlord.

There is a strong degree of hypervigilance on the part of LGBTQ residents. It was found that women were less likely to let people into their home, but men were more likely to self-censor – with activities such as hiding pictures or flags.

Do LGBTQ social housing residents feel part of a community?

Overall the report found that many LGBTQ residents feel excluded in multiple ways, which combined can lead to feelings of isolation – only 43% of survey respondents reported that they felt a sense of belonging to their local area.

What can be done?

All social housing providers can make changes, big or small, to begin to help their residents feel included. Communication with residents, staff training, and creating and promoting procedures for dealing with complaints about harassment and abuse have been identified as improvement areas by LGBTQ+ residents.

HouseProud also have also created the HouseProud Pledge in response to the findings in the report. The Pledge is a scheme that all social housing providers can sign up to no matter their size or location. It’s a great opportunity for the sector to demonstrate their commitment to LGBTQ+ resident equality and support.

You can find out more about Pride events in your area at pride-events.co.uk