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State of Play Report
Publisher/s
WA Shelter Charlotte Glance with assistance from Kai Schweizer, Ashton Kealy, Stefaan BruceTruglio, Cheyeanne Henderson-Watkins and Rebecca Evans.
Abstract
LGBTIQA+ young people are overrepresented in the homelessness system, however little is known about their experiences within that system in Western Australia.
Some of the findings include;
- A significant proportion of LGBTIQA+ young people who have experienced homelessness have never accessed an accommodation service.
- LGBTIQA+ young people accessing accommodation services are regularly experiencing discrimination, violence and rejection.
- Many systemic barriers exist in the youth homelessness system that prevent LGBTIQA+ young people from accessing accommodation and other services.
- In some cases, services are conducting abusive practices such as conversion practices within their services on LGBTIQA+ young people.
Through interviews and online surveys with workers and LGBTIQA+ young people this report found that while there were examples of excellent practice, there were also examples of significant discrimination, that exacerbated the trauma that LGBTIQA+ young people faced. Underlying this was a theme of inconsistency across the sector.