Shelter partners with Stonewall Housing to provide specialist support for LGBTQ+ renters

At the same time, the landlord pointed out how discrimination in housing for the LGBTQ+ community manifests in a variety of ways, including homophobia, biphobia and transphobia from housemates and neighbours. This includes rejection from families due to sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as bias and discrimination from both service providers and housing workers. 

Steven McIntyre, chief executive of Stonewall Housing, said: “I am just delighted that our partner, Shelter, is helping us to highlight this absolute scandal of youth homelessness and supporting us in our mission to ensure that all LGBTQ+ people have somewhere safe to call home. 

“When I first joined Stonewall Housing, I couldn’t quite believe that young people were still getting kicked out of home because they were LGBTQ+, surely not now. But I was wrong, the truth is it happens every single day.” 

According to Shelter’s Denied the right to a safe home report – for which the charity spoke to 13,000 people – 8% of bisexual and 6% of gay or lesbian respondents found it hard to find a safe and secure home due to discrimination, compared with only 3% of heterosexual people.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Previous research by Shelter showed that a staggering two million adults in Britain have faced discrimination when looking for a home. It is vitally important that we recognise LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by the housing emergency and can struggle to find a safe and secure home because of discrimination. 

“Our new advice pages, created in collaboration with Stonewall Housing, are there to help anyone needing information on finding LGBTQ+ friendly rented accommodation, as well as expert advice for people who are LGBTQ+ and facing homelessness, or who are being discriminated against by landlords or agents.  

“We’re looking forward to working more with Stonewall Housing, and meeting people at Shelter charity stalls across different UK Pride events this year.”

The new advice comes after Manchester City Council revealed it will dispose of land to a housing association for the development of a LGBTQ+ majority extra-care scheme for older people.

In August last year, LGBTQ+ housing network HouseProud appointed Stonewall to its delivery partner and advisory group. Stonewall Housing will help deliver the HouseProud pledge, which commits social landlords to working with involved LGBTQ+ residents to guarantee meaningful engagement, “beyond token gestures”.

HouseProud was set up in 2014 as the network group for LGBTQ+ people working in social housing. There are now more than 50 organisations from across the South East, East Anglia and the Midlands represented in the group.