Stonewall Housing: building foundations and legacy

Written by steering group member, Jon Bailey

When I heard that we would have the opportunity to meet with Steve and Zander from Stonewall Housing I was really excited and interested to learn more about the charity, especially as I’ve been a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community pretty much all my life. I was also intrigued to find out how we at Brighton and Hove Common Ambition could connect with them and their work. It also felt right that the sun was shining on the day of our meeting and this falling on the same week that Brighton and Hove Pride was hosting its 52nd Pride celebrations topped it all. In fact, as I started piecing some of this article together I could hear the sounds of the city as it began to celebrate day one of our Pride “Fabulouso” weekend.

Stonewall Housing is the leading charity supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer plus (LGBTQ+) people of all ages who live in the UK and are experiencing homelessness or living in an unsafe environment. Although the majority of service users are based in London, they work with anyone in the UK and offer specific services in Birmingham and here in Brighton and the surrounding areas.

I was first made aware of Stonewall Housing when I was participating in some research with Justlife which investigated how members of the LGBTQ+ community experienced homelessness and temporary accommodation in Brighton and Hove, which I had lived experience of myself. The charity had recently piloted a scheme for a small secured accommodation space offering short term accommodation and support for LGBTQ+ persons experiencing homelessness to ascertain whether there was a requirement for a similar space in the future which there was  Now, with the pilot being such a success and thanks to some funding support they have now opened a new supported accommodation project in the city and another in Eastbourne.

Plans are now in place to employ an LGBTQ+ Advice and Advocacy Worker, to spearhead the advice and advocacy service and make sure that it is developed in consultation with those that have or have previously had lived experience of homelessness in Brighton and Hove to ensure that it has a locals viewpoint and feel to it. In order to do this they needed to understand what the local context is along with the challenges LGBTQ+ persons face on their housing journey and also what improvements could be made for those that identify as LGBTQ+, to ensure that they provide a meaningful and effective service and therefore hopefully ensuring its sustainability and legacy. 

We began as always, with a check in using our chosen names and pronouns for our visitors’ awareness and to be made aware of theirs. Then we revisited our Housing Pathway, one of our previous design sprints and using some of the key stages of it which helped identify challenges that LGBTQ+ persons might face, then we collaboratively identified possible solutions.

Out of our discussions are the challenges we felt people who identify as LGBTQ+ would face that were specific to them:

• Not addressing all of their needs. It’s more than just housing, need to feel and be safe. Who are we living with? It’s not just a room, it’s meant to be home.
• Fear of shared spaces.
• Fear of judgement from other residents, what do they think of me? 
• Emergency/Temporary accommodation doesn’t feel safe for LGBTQ+ people, especially for those that are trans.
• It can be difficult to access the healthcare they need, even harder to find trans specific healthcare, especially when regularly moving location.
• There are no gender neutral public toilets for self care. Also disabled toilets are often broken or locked.
• Having the right type of access to housing and support services.
• Not having the right knowledge of the next steps.
• Not being heard or listened to regarding their triggers.
• Improvements to inclusivity.
• Bespoke support needs, more people centred.
• Limited options for moving on.
• Lack of community which leads to feelings of being isolated which then impacts on their mental health.
• Accommodation often prohibits residents having visitors except health and support workers or council officials like Welfare Officers.
• There are some debates around someone having a local connection versus someone that doesn’t. How do you fairly and ethically balance between people with no place to go and local people in the same or similar situations?
• How do you address stigma for LGBTQ+ folk, making sure they are listened to, finding nice people to talk to that can help and be completely non-judgemental.
• What happens when you don’t have someone to talk to, where you can be the real you and speak your truth, and explore what that means for you.
• More needs to be done to amplify where they can get help and find someone to speak to, where local services are and where they can get more support, especially in public places like council offices, libraries and foyers of other service providers. Also post information in temporary accommodation so that those there have clear information on where to find help for LGBTQ+ people. Where possible, including in the spaces mentioned above, in their toilets and other public toilets, as this then offers discretion in case a person hasn’t expressed their identity yet, and they may even need some advice on how to come out, or to take themselves out of a housing situation because they can’t identify themselves there safely. 
• More information regarding what services are offered is needed, for example Stonewall Housing drop ins every fortnight.
• There needs to be improvements around signposting of support services and groups which the local authorities are in a strong position to do as they are often peoples first responders when facing homelessness. Some of us suggested some sort of pack or guide or even an app? This could be accessed using QR codes which people could use their smartphones to download maybe a similar campaign as the “Ask for Angela” so that people can ask for help confidentially and safely.
• There can often be a level of prejudice, this can lead to them not asking for the support they really need out of fear of facing prejudice. 
• There’s a mixture of inclusivity, staff aren’t always as aware as they should be. Often different intersectionalities aren’t listened to leading to mistrust. 
• There should be a place where you could go to meet with peers with the same or similar experiences, as the first step is often the hardest, being around peers makes them feel more at ease. This would also address the issue around knowing where to signpost someone to begin? Somewhere that is friendly (including being dog friendly of course!), 

Some of the solutions we created were;

• Training for staff.
• Regular community and support groups.
• For professionals to be aware and know where signpost people to offer services that people  need.
• More focus on trans care.
• Have a safe space for people to talk with workers.
• Focused training for each role, looking at all the training options.
• More staff with lived experience, and specific housing officers/welfare officers as LGBTQ+ specialists.

We also had a discussion around what Brighton and Hove already has in place and what works well. Are their services or pathways that work well for LGBTQ+ persons who are experiencing homelessness and if so why and how?

Services include:

• The Ledward Centre – LGBTQ+ cafe with some low level assistance offered,  central meeting place for LGBTQ+ persons offering a safe space for them.
• Rainbow Hub – St James – Focused Hub offering advice and low level support to those who identify as LGBTQ+.
• Trans Pride – Central hub offering low level support for trans people.

Finally we discussed the Advice and Advocacy Role, what the role should include and what qualities should the person have for the role?

The role should include:

• Clear and transparent planning
• Disability Awareness
• Historical and local knowledge of LGBTQ+ history
• Prevent a person having to repeat and retell their story
• Understanding the importance of ending well/moving on
• Ending well/moving on should feel like a natural process as well as being a celebration
• Not be focused around time limits.
• Ethics of care towards the LGBTQ+ community.
• Knowledge of intersectionality.
• Knowledge of Housing Law and local services.
• Help to access healthcare or gender clinic.
• Knowledge of trans health.
• Ensuring continuity of care.
• Be easy to contact.
• Provide tangible next steps, even if they are small.
• Transparency throughout whole process
• Go at the pace which feels the most comfortable for them, don’t rush them.

Some of the qualities we feel the person in the role should have are:

• Be trauma informed.
• No prejudice.
• Good communicator.
• Able to work with uncertainties.
• Develop timelines.
• Good planning skills.
• Ability to “think outside of the box”. Be imaginative.
• Be friendly and approachable.
• Positive attitude but realistic.
• Flexible.
• Ideally someone with lived experience.
• Kind and honest.
• Always ready and willing to help, with a positive “can do” attitude.
• Non-judgemental.
• People-focused.
• Willing to learn.
• Transferable skills.

So overall there were some rich discussions about the Advice and Advocacy role in terms of what that role would look like and entail, what the role would involve and the qualities that we feel the person should have. We also highlighted some of the challenges that LGBTQ+ might be facing and possible solutions, what’s already in Brighton and Hove to support LGBTQ+ persons, and what works well 

Steven and Zander thanked us for our input, this has been valuable towards getting the funding they need for the role as well as providing some essential insights into what the role would look like. They will keep us updated with how they are getting on and any progress they’ve made to getting the funding for the role.

As always, we ended the meeting with a check out and the vibe in the room was that we all felt quite energised from our discussions.