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Housing-Related Calls on SQSH's Peer Support Warmline Over the last three and a half years that SQSH's Peer Support Warmline has been operational, we have taken at least 55 calls from queer and trans folks about housing-related issues. Housing is, without question, a queer issue — queer and trans youth are more likely to end up unhoused due to rejection by their bio-legal families, and the resource landscape in St. Louis is scarce for our queer (especially trans) unhoused and housing insecure siblings. The following data comes from 55 housing-related calls (out of 347+ calls, i.e. about 16% of all SQSH Helpline calls) logged by SQSH's Peer Counselors ranging from 09/29/19 to 05/01/23. Any potentially identifying information has been removed to protect our callers' and volunteers' anonymity. Content warnings include: transphobia/queerphobia, violence, abuse, police, harassment.
Figure 1: Current Housing Status of Callers
Of the calls SQSH has received about housing, almost half are from currently unhoused callers. Of the rest, nearly all callers' housing situation was unsatisfactory in some way, either because of the people they had to live with (e.g., bio-legal family, queerphobic roommates) or because of the housing itself (e.g., too expensive, not located in a queerfriendly neighborhood).
"How frustrating it is to live in a world where unhoused people can freeze to death when we have empty buildings..." - SQSH Warmline Caller
