Referring again to the survey report “Injustice at Every Turn,” when it comes to housing, “The various forms of direct housing discrimination faced by respondents included 19% being denied a home or apartment and 11% being evicted because they were transgender or gender non-conforming. Nineteen percent (19%) of respondents became homeless at some point because they were transgender or gender non-conforming, and 1.7% of respondents were currently homeless.” Those who were homeless were more likely to be incarcerated and/or engaged in sex work. Of those who attempted to access homeless shelters, “29% were turned away altogether, 42% were forced to stay in facilities designated for the wrong gender, and others encountered a hostile environment. Fifty-five percent (55%) reported being harassed, 25% were physically assaulted and 22% were sexually assaulted.”[1] We can see then that access to housing can be a difficult thing for transgender people, and that facilities designed for the homeless are often not capable of housing and protecting transgender people. What is needed is laws which protect transgender people from discrimination and guidelines/regulations in place for homeless shelters on the treatment of transgender clients, or perhaps even housing specifically focused on homeless transgender people.
The Catholic Church has similar guidance for issues of housing as it has for education and employment. In Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 26 states that, “At the same time, however, there is a growing awareness of the exalted dignity proper to the human person, since [they] stand above all things, and [their] rights and duties are universal and inviolable. Therefore, there must be made available to all [people] everything necessary for leading a life truly human, such as food, clothing, and shelter….”[2] In the same vein, Living the Gospel of Life paragraph 22 says, “ Any politics of human dignity must seriously address issues of racism, poverty, hunger, employment, education, housing, and health care. Therefore, Catholics should eagerly involve themselves as advocates for the weak and marginalized in all these areas.”[3] Thus the Catholic Church has made it clear that access to housing and shelter is a human right, one that Catholics and the Catholic Church should prioritize, especially for the weak and marginalized.
Looking at these statistics, it is difficult to think of housing for transgender people as anything but an issue of the weak and marginalized. Not only is there a fairly high rate of discrimination in housing, those who are homeless are actively preyed on. It is necessary for the Catholic Church and the Catholic laity to understand better the needs of transgender people in order to provide the kinds of services that they need in housing situations. How many transgender people have died on the street who might otherwise have lived had they been able to access homeless shelters? How many transgender people have been raped or assaulted because they were not properly cared for when they were allowed in a homeless shelter? The Catholic Church should advocate on behalf of transgender people the need for the state to pass laws protecting transgender people from discrimination in housing and for better regulations for homeless shelters.
[1] http://endtransdiscrimination.org/PDFs/NTDS_Report.pdf
[3] http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/living-the-gospel-of-life.cfm