DENVER — Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND), in partnership with Hana Fageeh, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado-Denver Masters of Public Affairs Program, shared new research on the housing barriers members of the transgender and non-binary communities face in Denver.
“For my capstone project, I focused on housing barriers for trans and non-binary folks in Denver, specifically who are unhoused and experiencing violence, as well,” Fageeh said. “I interviewed nine people. And I found that the biggest barriers for them were, surprisingly, the services that they're receiving. So case management services was a huge barrier. Shelters were actually a barrier for them, as well. And then the stigma around violence is a huge barrier that people experience. There's a lot of shame and a lot of guilt, and a lot of just lack of acceptance around how we talk around violence.”
Fageeh said those interviewed reported a lack of follow-up from case managers and discrimination based on their identities.
“They did also talk about congregate shelters that they were able to go to. They faced a lot of violence and a lot of discrimination within the shelters. And shelter staff weren't holding other members — whether they were residents or staff — accountable for these experiences of violence or discrimination. So they kind of just felt, ‘Maybe I'm safer, you know, out here by myself on the streets. I can fend for myself. I can have my own little community and, you know, be independent rather than face what I'm dealing with in shelters,'” Fageeh said.
Fageeh also found shelters and case managers lacked safety resources for members of the community that were victims of violence.
“We need to solve those things before just trying to house people in temporary spaces. A lot of those temporary spaces are causing re-traumatization for people,” Fageeh said.
Fageeh said permanent housing-first approaches and advocacy are solutions to housing barriers.
Megan Devenport, the CEO of the Gathering Place, a nonprofit which operates the Rodeway Inn shelter that houses women, non-binary and transgender people, said she appreciates Fageeh’s research and recommendations.
“The recommendation of creating spaces that are not just available for trans and non-binary folks, but specifically created with them in mind, you know, sort of this difference between, 'Yeah, you can come here. I'm not going to keep you from coming in the door,' and 'I made this place specifically for you. I've thought through the signage. I've thought through the intake. I've thought through the access to privacy,'” Devenport said. “Here at the Gathering Place, we shifted our mission to be more proactively trans-inclusive many years ago now. And we've been really working hard to build our staff capacity, our building's functionality and our programming to meet that service population. And we still fall short. And so if that's happening for us, and we have have really taken these diligent actions to be culturally responsive for trans and non-binary folks, then I know for sure it's happening in other places.”
The Rodeway Inn will close in a few weeks, and with fewer housing options for trans and non-binary people experiencing homelessness, Devenport said she hopes city leaders pay attention to this new research.
“We're really hopeful about the next steps with Mayor Johnston's plan. They have asked for proposals for what they're calling affinity-based communities, that’s communities that are based on identity. So we're hopeful that we'll see some of that more specific investment,” Devenport said.
Devenport said there are things the city government can do in the short-term, like making government forms more inclusive by giving more options under gender classifications.
