Aviva Community Fund provided £910 of match funding
LGBTQ+ Homeless Project
York, England, United Kingdom
Aim
Many people who experience homelessness are LGBT+. We are proposing to create a peer support group for homeless LGBT+ people in York.
We are the York LGBT Forum and we work with people who identify as on the LGBTQ+ spectrum in York. We are wanting to set up a project to work specifically with homeless people in York who identify as LGBTQ+
Firstly, a bit about my story. I'm 22 and from York, and I identify as a transgender man and bisexual. 18 months ago in August 2018 I was kicked out of my mum's house because my mental health problems got so severe she couldn't give me the full time care I needed. I went to Howe Hill Hostel in York. I was absolutely petrified and alone, the thing I was most scared of was the other people in the hostel and how they would react to having a LGBT person among them, and, most importantly, whether the staff at the hostel would take any Hate Crime received seriously or whether they would tell me it was my fault for being Transgender.
I am now in my own accommodation and whilst I didn't receive any Hate Crime whilst being in the hostel I still worry for other people who decide to be more open than I was around their gender and sexual identities. I felt like I had to keep them hidden and I lied to the other people in the hostel to say I was a straight woman, this did not help my mental health. I want to do something so LGBTQ+ people who enter the homeless system in York can feel confident in themselves, and their ability to express themselves how they wish.
To do this I am working with Jake Furby, York LGBT Forum secretary who has a degree in counselling, and Catherine Tottie who works for IDAS in York and previously with minority groups at Community Links. We are hoping to set up a few provisions in York. Firstly a support group to bring LGBT people who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness in the past together as peer support, hopefully this will let them know they are not alone as I felt very alone when I was in the system. The other thing we are hoping to do is LGBT Awareness courses for the staff in the hostels, to let them know what is LGBT, the issues they face and how they can tackle Hate Crime leading to, hopefully, better mental health for the clients. The last idea we have is going into Howe Hill Hostel for Young People and working with their young people to bring awareness to LGBT issues, how they can support LGBT peers, and what is Hate Crime, outlining the seriousness of the crime and how it is dealt with by the police.
So far we have given the LGBT Awareness training to the Salvation Army in York where it was very well received and they said it was "invaluable" when they went on to help a Transgender man in the later months. We would like to spread this training to all staff that work with homeless people in York.
This project successfully funded on 22nd April 2020