Photo: RNZ
Renters who are takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ are putting up with uninhabitable housing conditions because they are too scared to speak out, a public health researcher says.
LGBTIQ+ people were "disproportionately impacted by homelessness", University of Otago Department of Public Health senior research fellow Dr Brodie Fraser said.
Internationally, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and other sexual and gender minorities people comprise between 20 to 40 percent of those experiencing homelessness, despite only being 5 to 10 percent of the general population, they added.
Like many marginalised groups, LGBTIQ+ people faced "a lot of difficulty" finding housing due to prejudice, and many were resorting to "survival techniques" to avoid homelessness.
"It means people are putting up with all sorts of horrible situations. I heard stories of people who were living in mouldy, draughty, damp... uninhabitable housing, essentially."
It was difficult for all LGBTIQ+ renters, but trans people in particular faced a lot of difficulties.
"Queer people can hide their sexual orientation a lot of the time, they might not attend house viewings as a couple so they can pretend to be straight... but for trans people who are a little bit more visible it can harder to hide who you are.
"A landlord can take one look at you and go, 'Oh no, this is unfamiliar, I don't know how to handle this situation,' and just dismiss you. They can be outright transphobic."
There were "all sorts of things that could go on in the rental search" with people making assumptions about the takatāpui community, they added.
Dr Brodie Fraser. Photo: Supplied / Tim Onnes
Fraser completed their PHD, on LGBTIQ+ people's experiences of homelessness, in 2020.
In their latest research, Fraser looked at LGBTIQ+ people's experience of housing instability, talking to 20 people across the country.
Those interviewed painted a "grim" picture.
"Stories included property managers asking people if they were okay with two men renting the house next door when they, the prospective neighbours, had kids... Others spoke about getting kicked out of flats for being queer and/or trans, and landlords and boarding house managers sexually assaulting tenants."
Housing needed to be viewed as a human right, Fraser said.
"At a minimum, we need political changes such as greater enforcement of the Healthy Homes Standards and improvements to the Tenancy Tribunal process."
Fraser said fixing the power imbalances between landlords and renters, as well as better enforcement of the healthy homes standards, would not just help takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ renters but all renters.
They also warned that changes to the census would mean the loss of "world-leading data" on both the LGBTIQ+ population as well as people experiencing homelessness.
Little was known about how the takatāpui/LGBTIQ+ community experienced homelessness in this country, and the 2023 census was "really exciting" because it meant that data was captured for the first time.
But Fraser said it would be the only time, with Stats NZ moving to an "admin data first" approach in 2028.
In 2023, the agency denied it was making changes to save money, but said the current approach was not sustainable. The 2023 census cost an estimated $316 million.
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