(Photo Credits: Harrison Haines from Pexels)
A new study conducted by the Williams Institute revealed that 17 percent of LGB adults in the US have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives—this number is more than twice as compared to that of the general population study which is at 6 percent. What’s more is that 71 percent of them experienced homelessness as adults (age 18 years and above), 20 percent before the age of 18, while 9 percent said they experienced homelessness in both their youths and adulthood.
Further, the study shows that 8 percent of transgender adults have experienced homelessness in the past year. In terms of race and ethnicity, “23 percent of Latinx, 18 percent of Black or African American, and 15 percent of White sexual minorities” have experienced homelessness although the study found the differences in numbers to be “not statistically significant.”
But what does it mean to be homeless? While the first thing that comes to mind is living on the streets, according to the Williams Institute homelessness also means couch surfing, staying in a group home or shelter, and living in places that are not “intended for housing such as on the street or in a car, park, or abandoned building.” Read the study in full here or download it here.
The study was conducted between 2016 and 2019 prior to the coronavirus pandemic and is said to be the first to “provide estimates of the percentage of sexual and gender minority adults experiencing homelessness compared to cisgender straight adults using representative national data.”
Meanwhile, a separate report has revealed the LGBT people’s plight this COVID-19 crisis. It says that parents who discover their child’s sexuality or gender identity are kicking their LGBT children out of their homes onto the streets while LGBT parents are “suffering homophobic and transphobic abuse from their own children during the lockdown.”
On the other hand, a recent analysis by Columbia University economics professor says that in general, homelessness in the US will “see a huge surge of 40% to 45% if the deadly coronavirus pandemic continues to trigger unemployment levels as high as predicted” by the end of 2020.
Adam4Adam blog readers who wish to help or donate to shelters that serve LGBTQ+ homeless people in the US may check this link that contains a list of LGBT organizations by state.
Yes, the same people that happily stay at home and collect those amped-up unemployment checks will be SOL when the gravy train runs out. All those service jobs are going away and few will come back. Unless that professional barista and ‘server’ wants to be pushing a shopping cart, he/she/it will have to learn a skill/trade, or pick strawberries. Great time to be an employer in certain industries, not a great time to be living on credit while working 3 jobs to live an urban dream version of “Friends”. Either get out and get real, or accept a future of… Read more »
Tyrell:
Absolutely, positively, love your post of Doom!
Glad you beat-me-to-the-punch! I was planning to write something a bit more insidious but you laid down the basic tenets of The Apocalypse!: famine; pestilence; war; disease.
Kudos for usurping my usual claim-to-fame.
Especially, as the “AI technology” is really coming to be, big time, in the next decade or so, even many white-collar just like blue-collar jobs alike, will disappear. This is gonna really require some serious home-work on the next burgeoning fields of higher skills
required to survive, let alone live.
Homelessness, unfortunately has always been an issue. I suspect that there will be less concerns about the rising homelessness because many people are trying to figure out how they don’t become part of the homeless population. I wonder if those that are homeless really are feeling a great impact during the covid crisis since this group of people where already struggling. Its like when the recession hit over 10 years ago. The people on the lowest end of the socioeconomic scale really didn’t see much of a crisis since they were suffering already. Maybe there were less resources to fight… Read more »
Flatten the curve.. no no wait for the vaccine.. no no two more weeks… let’s face that the trade off of limiting deaths (which NY has been great at killing grandma off in the nursing homes because of their superstar Gov policies) from COVID is a host of other problems… and everyone talking about saving every life from COVID doesn’t contemplate the numerous other issues that arise locking down the world.