At A Meeting

I am at a meeting about homeless shelters this morning discussing the treatment of trans people at shelters.

The survey “Injustice At Every Turn” found some startling facts about homeless trans people. Some of their findings are,

• Respondents lived in extreme poverty. Our sample was nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000/ year compared to the general population.
• Overall, 16% said they had been compelled to work in the underground economy for income (such as doing sex work or selling drugs).
• Respondents reported various forms of direct housing discrimination — 19% reported having been refused a home or apartment and 11% reported being evicted because of their gender identity/expression.
• Respondents who have experienced homelessness were highly vulnerable to mistreatment in public settings, police abuse and negative health outcomes.
• One-fifth (19%) reported experiencing homelessness at some point in their lives because they were transgender or gender nonconforming; the majority of those trying to access a homeless shelter were harassed by shelter staff or residents (55%), 29% were turned away altogether, and 22% were sexually assaulted by residents or staff.

It is the last fact that the meeting today is about, it is a planning meeting for another meeting next week.

Even through Connecticut has a strong gender identity and expression non-discrimination law, some of the shelters do not follow the law and when there is harassment of trans people by the residents, it the trans person who gets blamed for it.

Not all shelters in Connecticut don’t get it; I have done training for domestic violence shelters and there are shelters here that will house homeless trans people in the shelter of their gender identity and not their birth.