Queer utopias of housing and homelessness

Abstract

While there is evidence that discrimination against LGBTQ + people can cause homelessness, or worsen experiences, in this paper we consider law, policy and practice to tackle homelessness among LGBTQ + people. Contrasting the different legal systems across the UK nations of England, Scotland and Wales, we firstly consider how law, as structured around the norm of the heterosexual nuclear family, can be designed to discriminate against LGBTQ + people. Turning to practice within organisations tackling homelessness, we then present evidence on how support can be explicitly, or inadvertently, discriminatory while trying to be well-intentioned. Evidence from an organisation that has embedded LGBTQ + inclusion into its services offers a best practice alternative. We conclude, using utopia as a method, by suggesting that a full respect for LGBTQ + lives in homelessness law and policy should ‘queer’ it, making it more inclusive and producing better outcomes for all people experiencing homelessness.