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LGBTQ+ Housing Discrimination

According to a 2020 UCLA School of Law Williams Institute article entitled, LGBT People and Housing Affordability, Discrimination, and Homelessness

 

"Compared to non-LGBT people, LGBT people appear to be more likely to face housing unaffordability, are less likely to own their homes and are more likely to be renters, and are more likely to be homeless.

 

Housing Affordability

The evidence on housing affordability includes:

  • LGBT adults, as a whole, have at least 15% higher odds of being poor than cisgender straight adults after controlling for age, race, urbanicity, employment status, language, education, disability, and other factors that affect risk of poverty (Badgett et al., 2019).

  • Among LGBT people, poverty is especially prevalent among racial minorities, bisexuals, women, transgender people, and younger people (e.g., Badgett, 2018; Badgett et al., 2019; Carpenter et al., 2020; Meyer et al., 2019).

 

Homeownership

The evidence on homeownership includes:

  • According to representative data from 35 states, nearly half (49.8%) of LGBT adults own their homes, compared to 70.1% of non-LGBT adults (Conron, 2019).

  • Homeownership is even lower among LGBT racial minorities and transgender people (Conron et al., 2018; Meyer et al., 2019).

  • Same-sex couples are significantly less likely to own their homes than different-sex couples (63.8% and 75.1%, respectively) (original analyses herein).

  • Homeownership is higher among married couples than unmarried couples, but married same-sex couples significantly are less likely to own their homes than married different-sex couples (72% and 79.4%, respectively) (original analyses herein).

 

Homelessness

The evidence on homelessness includes:

  • Studies find that between 20% and 45% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ, at least 2 to 4 times more than the estimated percentage of all youth who identify as LGBTQ (e.g., Baams et al., 2019; Choi et al., 2015).

  • Among young adults aged 18-25, LGBT people have a 2.2 times greater risk of homelessness than non-LGBT people (Morton, Samuels, et al., 2018).​

 

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​​​​​​​Stigma and Discrimination

LGBT people face an array of stigma and discrimination across the life course that undermines their ability to have stable, safe, and affordable housing. The evidence includes:

  • Family rejection of LGBTQ youth is a major factor contributing to their high levels of homelessness (e.g., Choi et al., 2015; Ecker, 2016), and that rejection diminishes not only the possibility of reunification but also family ties for LGBT people into adulthood and elder years.

  • LGBT youth and adults face challenges in accessing homeless shelters and services, such as harassment and violence, staff who are not equipped to appropriately serve LGBT people, and sex-segregated facilities in which transgender people are housed according to their sex assigned at birth (which leads many transgender people to go unsheltered instead).

  • LGBT people face widespread harassment and discrimination by housing providers, who, for example, studies have shown are less likely to respond to rental inquiries from same-sex couples (Friedman et al., 2013) and are more likely to quote male same-sex couples higher rents (Levy et al., 2017) than comparable different-sex couples.

  • LGBT elders are at risk of being turned away from or charged higher rents at independent or assisted living centers (Equal Rights Center, 2014), as well as harassed, treated poorly, or forced to go back in the closet once moved in (e.g., AARP Research, 2018).

  • Same-sex couples face system-wide discrimination by mortgage lenders, with one study finding that, compared to different-sex borrowers of similar profiles, same-sex borrowers experienced a 3% to 8% lower approval rate and, among approved loans, higher interest and/or fees (Sun & Gao, 2019).

  • Discrimination against LGBT people in employment and other settings is widespread and can destabilize housing and make it more unaffordable.

  • LGBT people may face not only sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination in housing but also other forms of disadvantage, such as racial prejudice, language barriers, and inaccessibility related to a disability.

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Fair Housing Services

Niagara Pride is happy to work with Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) to refer individuals with housing problems for fair housing services. HOME helps those who have experienced housing discrimination or whose landlords are not respecting their rights in other ways, including failing to make repairs, trying to wrongly evict them, and more.

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There are no qualification requirements to use HOME’s services—anyone in Western New York is welcome to bring their housing questions and problems for free and confidential help.

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It is illegal in New York State for landlords to refuse to rent to someone, to provide different terms in renting, or to harass tenants on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. New Yorkers are also protected from housing discrimination based on race, sex, disability, familial status (having children under the age of 18 in the household), lawful source of income (using Section 8 or other rental assistance), and more.

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To request assistance from HOME, please fill out one of the forms on their website linked below. If you believe you may have experienced discrimination but aren’t sure or don’t have proof, please err on the side of caution and fill out the discrimination report form below. Someone from HOME will be in contact with you soon.

 

Report discrimination: www.homeny.org/report-discrimination

 

Request assistance for other housing problems: www.homeny.org/request-assistance-tenant

 

HOME is also able to educate landlords about their rights and responsibilities under fair housing law. Landlords can register for HOME’s free landlord training webinar at www.homeny.org/landlordtraining.

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