Queer Identity and Housing: Co-designing Holistic Housing Access with 2SLGBTQ+ Adults in Canada

Authors:SRDC SRSA

While the higher prevalence of homelessness for 2SLGBTQ+ youth has been well documented, there is a small but growing evidence base of housing inequities experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ adults, particularly in terms of qualifying for mortgages, unaffordable market rates, and employment/income insecurity. Unique barriers and facilitators exist in different contexts, particularly those with a higher density of 2SLGBTQ+ housing and adjacent supports (i.e., tailored resources, programs, and services) and lower density, typically rural, areas.

Expanding on a framework developed as a part of a previous project with Mentor Canada and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, we are conducting a comparative case study to explore facilitators and barriers to 2SLGBTQ+ identified adults accessing holistic housing across the life course from emerging adulthood to old age. In partnership with an advisory group of queer adults and housing/support service providers, we will identify two cases for comparison: that of a high-density supports community for queer adults in Canada and a low-density supports community.

By collaboratively exploring how identity influences access to housing and supports throughout adulthood, and the facilitators and barriers to holistic, thriving-oriented vs. survival-oriented housing, we will map individuals’ housing ‘journeys,’ experiences, and their contextual influences. In turn, this will identify leverage points around which prototypes and solutions can be co-designed by queer adults, housing stakeholders, and policymakers at different levels of government.

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