Understanding the needs of gender-diverse youth and young adults and their staff members in homeless shelters and supported housing

Abstract

Background: Gender-diverse youth experience twice the risk for homelessness as their same-age cisgender peers and report experiencing discrimination in homeless shelters and supported housing.

Method: Eighteen participants (9 gender-diverse residents and 9 staff members) were interviewed individually to understand their experience of and needs in these settings.

Results: The major findings included: (a) Gender-diverse service recipients felt unsafe and vulnerable in these facilities. Sharing space in which to carry out occupations of vulnerability often triggered anxiety and PTSD. (b) Gender-diverse service recipients felt that staff members did not understand how cumulative trauma adversely affected participation in programmatic activities. (c) Staff members reported that their facilities did not provide formal training needed to understand and address the unique needs of gender-diverse residents. (d) Gender-diverse service recipients commonly sustained trauma throughout their lives that compromised their ability to attain desired daily life skills and adult occupational roles. Such ruptures in their knowledge base likely served to maintain their homelessness despite repeated shelter admissions and housing placements.

Conclusion: Occupational therapists could provide essential intervention to a gender-diverse youth population, including assisting with the attainment of skills needed for apartment management, employment seeking, maintenance, and health management.