Overview
This section explains why homelessness services and shelter settings require specific planning for trans and nonbinary survivors. It identifies common barriers, summarizes key dynamics, and offers practical ways providers can create safer, more affirming access to shelter and related supports.
Transgender people are disproportionately affected by homelessness.[i] They are also more likely to be unsheltered: 63% of transgender people experiencing homelessness report being unsheltered, compared with 49% of cisgender individuals.[ii] These disparities make it especially important for homeless services and shelters to provide safe, accessible, and gender-affirming support.
Homelessness increases the likelihood that a person will experience violence or crime. It can also increase the risk of repeated housing instability, because people who have been unhoused once are more likely to become unhoused again. For trans and nonbinary survivors, these risks can be compounded by discrimination, unsafe shelter environments, and barriers to gender-affirming services.
Trans Specific Dynamics
Common barriers
Mistreatment in shelters
Trans and nonbinary people report high rates of violence and harassment when seeking homelessness-related services from both service providers and other people accessing services.
Many transgender individuals avoid homeless shelters because they fear harassment, abuse, or a lack of gender-affirming care or facilities. They may face verbal or physical abuse from other shelter residents, be forced to stay in facilities that do not align with their gender identity, or encounter staff who are untrained or unwilling to provide appropriate support. Some shelters may also lack private or gender-neutral restrooms, and transgender individuals may experience discrimination or have difficulty accessing necessary health care, including hormone therapy or mental health support.[iii]
Gender segregated services
When services are segregated by gender, trans and nonbinary people may be forced into unsafe or inappropriate settings. Trans people are frequently turned away from services when their identification does not match their gender identity, when staff or residents know they are transgender, or when they refuse to hide their transgender identity. Nonbinary people are frequently excluded from both male and female services or pressured to hide their gender to receive support. Sex segregation can also increase scrutiny of everyone accessing services, as staff or residents may try to determine who is eligible based on appearance, documents, or assumptions about gender.
Services do not meet needs of survivor
Many homelessness services are designed to meet an immediate need, such as providing a place to sleep for the night. That immediate support can be essential, but it does not address the long-term needs or root causes that may contribute to a survivor’s homelessness, including violence, discrimination, poverty, trauma, and limited access to affirming care.
Services are not trauma-informed
The majority of people experiencing homelessness have also experienced trauma. Trauma responses can include difficulty trusting others, anxiety, fear, anger, withdrawal, or heightened reactions to perceived threats. Shelter environments can intensify these responses when people have little privacy, limited control over their surroundings, or few choices about how their needs are met. For survivors of violence, these conditions can feel especially destabilizing. When staff are not trained to recognize trauma responses, they may misread survival behaviors such as defiance, disrespect, or misbehavior, which can lead to survivors being removed from services instead of receiving support.
Common dynamics of trans survivors
Multiple needs
Unhoused trans people are more likely than non-trans people to report mental health challenges, substance use, and past experiences of trauma. In addition to housing, they may need a range of supportive services that address safety, health, stability, and healing.
Economic disparities
Trans people face high rates of employment discrimination, including unequal pay. This makes it harder for trans individuals to experience economic self-sufficiency.
Key Tips for Service Providers
Work to create an environment free of violence
Providers can help create an environment free of violence by setting clear expectations for how people treat one another, responding to conflict early, modeling nonviolent behavior, and helping people get their needs met before situations escalate.
A punitive or police-based approach is not necessary to encourage nonviolence, and it may increase tension or make people feel less safe. Instead, providers can focus on meeting immediate needs, offering meaningful choices, and creating constructive outlets for people’s energy, stress, and interests.
Train staff in trauma-informed de-escalation so conflicts can be resolved without removing people from services
When staff understand the impacts of trauma, they are better equipped to resolve problems and recognize why someone may be responding in a particular way. For example, trauma responses may include yelling, large movements, or other behaviors that can be perceived as threatening. Staff can respond by helping the person regulate, identifying what need is not being met, and choosing an approach that keeps the person connected to services. Other responses may escalate the situation, lead to removal from services, or involve law enforcement unnecessarily.
Conflict between people using services is common, especially in settings with minimal privacy and autonomy. Staff who can de-escalate conflict, identify immediate needs, and help people return to a sense of safety are better prepared to keep people connected to the services they need.
Inclusive and flexible policies
Each survivor is unique, and so are their needs. Organizations can assess their policies, especially policies about who they serve, what services they provide, and how people are placed in sex-segregated settings. If a facility offers separate housing for men and women, staff should know how trans women, trans men, and nonbinary people will be housed before a crisis occurs. Not all trans people are at the same place in their transition, not all trans people are out, and not all trans people will be comfortable or safe in sex-specific housing. Intake policies should allow people to self-select where they will stay whenever possible, and programs should continually look for ways to increase privacy and safety for everyone.
Seek to enhance privacy
Privacy can make a meaningful difference for people using services. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when shelters housed individuals and families in their own rooms, shelters reported fewer conflicts between residents. For trans and nonbinary people, privacy can help them feel safer and also reduce the risk of being outed, watched, questioned, or made uncomfortable by others.
Privacy should not mean isolation. When trans and nonbinary people are separated from others or placed where staff are not paying attention, they may face greater risk of violence because people who cause harm can assume no one is watching, checking in, or keeping track of what happens to them.
Use the names people want you to use
People may ask staff to use a name that is different from the name they use in other parts of their lives or the name listed on their documents. Ask everyone at intake what name they would like staff to use, record that name in the places staff rely on for service delivery, and make sure all staff use it consistently.
Believe people about their gender
Service providers should believe people about their gender, even when a person’s gender does not match the provider’s assumptions about appearance, documentation, voice, clothing, or behavior.
Trans and nonbinary people may share different information about their gender with different people, depending on what feels safe. They may also dress or present in ways that do not match other people’s assumptions about their gender, especially when they are unhoused and may not have reliable access to affirming clothing, grooming supplies, privacy, or storage. Some people may present as cisgender to access services or reduce the risk of harassment. Others may openly share that they are trans, whether or not they have taken steps to change their physical appearance. Staff should avoid making assumptions and instead follow each person’s stated name, pronouns, and service preferences.
Statistics
- Nearly one-third of trans people experience homelessness at some point in their lifetime. For more detail, see the U.S. Trans Survey housing report.
- 2020 statistics
Resources
- Housing & Homelessness Resources [Advocates for Trans Equality]
- Homelessness and Housing Instability Among LGBTQ Youth [The Trevor Project]
- LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness [National Network for Youth]
- Runaway & Homeless Youth and Relationship Violence Toolkit: Guidance and Materials for Advocates and Practitioners [National Resource Center on Domestic Violence]
- ‘A Place That’s Safe’: Housing for Trans People, by Trans People [Housing Matters: An Urban Institute Initiative] Example of supportive housing
[i] James, S.E., Herman, J.L., Durso, L.E., & Heng-Lehtinen, R. (2024). Early Insights: A Report of the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey. National Center for Transgender Equality, Washington, DC. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/2024-02/2022%20USTS%20Early%20Insights%20Report_FINAL.pdf
[iii] Medina, C., Mahowald, L., Santos, T., & Gruberg, S. (2021, August 18). Protecting and advancing health care for transgender adult communities. Center for American Progress. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/protecting-advancing-health-care-transgender-adult-communities/