Raising Awareness: LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness in America
LA County’s youth homeless population has unique needs and characteristics when compared to the overall homeless population. They are more likely to be female, Black, or Latinx. They are more likely to report being LGBTQ+ and less likely to have a substance abuse issue or mental illness.
As many as 40% of LA County’s homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+, according to data from the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership. A 2015 study from the UCLA Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ youth are at high risk for experiencing trauma that drives them to leave home and/or causes them to suffer further while unhoused, with transgender youth at the highest risk.
A 2017 study published by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago yielded several key findings about LGBTQ+ youths’ experiences nationwide that can direct policies, systems, and services that they need:
- LGBTQ+ youth had 2.2 times the rate of early death among youth experiencing homelessness.
- LGBTQ+ youth are at more than double the risk of homelessness compared to non-LGBTQ+ peers.
- Youth who identified as both LGBTQ+ and black or multiracial had some of the highest rates of homelessness.
- Among youth experiencing homelessness, LGBTQ+ young people reported higher rates of trauma and adversity.
- Transgender youth often face unique and more severe types of discrimination and trauma.
The study also found that most LGBTQ+ youths became homeless not in the immediate aftermath of “coming out” but largely due to family instability and frayed relationships over time. Young people’s sense of whether service providers were safe and affirming spaces for LGBTQ+ youth often affected their decisions about whether to engage with them.
LGBTQ+ youth in LA County are also at greater risk of being victimized — robbed, physically and sexually abused, abused by a partner, or made a victim of a hate crime — compared to their heterosexual peers. They are also at higher risk for drug addiction.
Homeless LGBTQ youth face an uphill struggle as they seek to develop into mature, stable adults. However, the insights gleaned from data and study of LGBTQ+ youths’ trajectories into homelessness reveal many prevention and early intervention opportunities. Because of this, the system that LAHSA and our providers are building to help youth has unique characteristics, and the learning process is ongoing.
In addition, policymakers and advocates who serve youth are using what we’ve learned to guide work on the early identification of youth at risk for homelessness. Early identification can create better opportunities for initiating appropriate supports before family situations escalate into a crisis.
