Our Collective Housing Dilemma

vladorlov

Erie, like many other cities across the country, is experiencing a housing crisis. And this crisis is often exponentially worse for those in the LGBTQIA+ population. The Erie Community Foundation recently announced its Housing First plan, but our city needs a holistic approach to tackling chronic homelessness that includes street outreach, nonprofit partnerships, reliable income, and inclusivity in sheltering options.

On any given day in our home of Erie County, around 1,000 people don't know where they are sleeping each night. Last year, there was an unprecedented 15 percent increase in youth (ages 18-24) homelessness nationally. Among these young people, up to 45 percent of them identify as LGBTQIA+. As researchers, analysts, and public officials only recently have been equipped with sound data on this growing crisis, we must bring to light how our Queer community faces similar drastic disparities when it comes to housing stability as those that persist on racial lines from decades of disenfranchisement, red-lining, and discrimination.

Overall, LGBTQIA+ folks are more likely to be renters, to face housing unaffordability, and to be unhoused. Also, only 50 percent own homes as adults compared to 70 percent of non-LGBTQIA+ folks across the country. This data, all taken from a 2020 report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, paints a clear picture on the reality of housing for the Queer community.

Whether during my brief time serving on Erie City Council or on a random Friday night volunteering at Our Neighbors Place (Erie's best, yet unsustainable solution to an overflow shelter in the colder months), I learned about the barriers and systemic failures our unhoused neighbors face locally. When adding in the experience of being LGBTQIA+, the mountains to climb increase greatly. I had to recognize my own blind spot around how gender expansive and transgender folks can feel unwelcome at shelters, since spaces there are generally separated by men and women. Out of all marginalized groups, this subgroup is the most likely to remain completely unsheltered and face sleeping outside. After we passed the state's first LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city resolution in July of last year on Erie City Council, I listened and learned from several unhoused transgender neighbors who did not feel safe in any of our local shelters. It was a stark reminder of how much work continues to be needed to address this multifaceted issue.

Several of the most memorable conversations I've had with chronically unhoused neighbors over the past two years surround their origin story of housing instability. Tragically, many pointed back to the pivotal moment when their parents and family rejected them for being LGBTQIA+. This heartbreaking reality can result in decades of remaining unhoused, and increases the chances of developing mental illness and substance use disorders. A 2022 Trevor Project report found that LGBTQIA+ youth who experience housing instability and homelessness have a 3.5 times increased rate of attempting suicide. Some of the best solutions to this tragedy include inclusive supportive services, such as the often life-saving work that happens at Compton's Table and Central Outreach, as well as promoting family acceptance of LGBTQIA+ youth. While policy change is crucial, every single person reading this can do their part to support such organizations while encouraging courageous conversations in their circles of family and friends.

More conversations and connections are desperately needed to address Erie's housing crisis at all levels. As unveiled in April, a significant and expensive public-private partnership is underway to permanently house and provide supportive services to 150 chronically unhoused Erie residents. Coordinated by Infinite Erie and the Erie Community Foundation, a Housing First Plan has been created with the goal of building a new facility for 50 residents plus the acquisition and rehabilitation of 100 housing units across the city. Executive leadership at the city and county levels are on-board, along with Hamot Health Foundation and their new venture Build Community Development Corporation. With around $15 million dollars already pledged, the Erie Community Foundation is now tasked with raising an additional $20 million to bring the project to life.

When I had the opportunity to ask project leadership publicly about the involvement of those with lived experience, I was met with uncertainty. We all have blind spots, but how can a $35 million project to address chronic homelessness not involve those facing chronic homelessness in the planning process? The audience was assured that a vast network of service providers were involved. However, those closest to the pain are the ones most needed to provide solutions. As a community, we must collectively hold one another accountable when saviorism becomes commonplace. It is not too late for this partnership to improve engagement with neighbors with lived experience in our shelters, especially those who faced that brutal reality and navigated their way into permanent housing.

Fortunately, the project is heading in the right direction when it comes to embracing the housing-first model. This strategy emerged in the 1990s and proved effective in cities like Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Madison, Wisconsin. It includes immediate access to permanent housing with supportive services. Importantly, it embeds a practice of consumer choice and self-determination, giving chronically unhoused neighbors options when it comes to their housing and community services. Social integration and connection is crucial, ensuring a holistic approach to addressing isolation and loneliness. There are plentiful models for Erie to refer to as this project evolves, including both Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids in Michigan. But no feedback is more valuable than the neighbors walking into Our Neighbors Place on a cold January night when they have nowhere else to go.

In order to better serve our broader unhoused community, we need to build more bridges. As Mercy Center for Women's Executive Director Jennie Hagerty asserts in her Erie Times News piece back in March, Erie must do something to improve street outreach. While some new public funding is seemingly becoming available to address this, prioritizing its use for meeting people where they are at is paramount. If this includes service organizations already serving the LGBTQIA+ community, this could have profound impacts on reducing chronic homelessness for youth rejected by their families and facing housing insecurity for the first time.

And, hopefully one day in our not too distant future, Erie will implement a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program for our neighbors facing housing insecurity. Such a program in my former home of Denver, Colorado was so successful that one-third of participants went from unhoused to permanently housed in just one year. Program evaluations saw significant increases in employment and improved mental health, too. The group with the most positive outcomes included unhoused individuals who were trusted with $1,000 per month for one year.

Imagine if we could implement such a program in Erie. What would be the price tag for $1,000 in direct cash assistance for our 150 chronically unhoused neighbors for one year? $1.8 million. While additional expenses for program administration and supportive services are essential, this is a drastic drop from the proposed $35 million project. The Housing First project will take years to complete, all while our chronically unhoused neighbors need immediate and urgent assistance.

As housing policies, projects, and programs continue to evolve locally, my wish is that Erie doesn't continue our unsettling trend of being 20 years behind. We are equipped with successful examples from across the commonwealth and the country on how to truly transform housing insecurity. Most importantly, our community is filled with dedicated and creative people committed to the cause. In the meantime and especially this Pride Month, let's ensure together that not one more Queer youth becomes chronically unhoused. Truly, it takes a village.

Data is powerful! If you are LGBTQ+ and live in PA, please take the PA Equality Project Housing Survey at paequality.com/survey/housing-survey.

Susannah Faulkner can be reached at susannah.faulkner@gmail.com