Over 1,500 LGBTQ+ people seek asylum in the UK every year, hoping to find safety and protection from the abuse, violence, and persecution of their past. However, many LGBTQ+ refugees continue to face life-threatening challenges after arriving in the country, including unsafe housing and homelessness.

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Housing is a huge challenge for the entire refugee population for many reasons, including financial constraints, having no choice over where and with whom you live, discrimination from property owners, and policies like Right to Rent and No Recourse to Public Funds conditions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an inability to effectively socially isolate has been highlighted as a huge issue with shared housing for refugees.

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Housing is precarious throughout an individual’s asylum journey. If someone’s asylum application is denied, they face eviction from government-provided accommodation despite having nowhere else to go, and the possibility of appealing the court’s decision. Even once someone has been granted asylum, they have just 28 days to move into private accommodation. This is hardly long enough to find a job or access benefits, save for rent and a deposit, and secure a suitable place to live, leading many to become homeless in the month after being granted.

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For LGBTQ+ refugees, these challenges are exacerbated because of their sexuality or gender identity. For those living in ‘hidden homelessness’ with family and friends, many continue to conceal their identity for fear of abuse, discrimination, and ultimately eviction. The situation is similar for those living in government-provided accommodation; LGBTQ+ refugees are often forced to cohabit with non-LGBTQ+ refugees from the communities they have just fled from, and live in fear of homophobic or transphobic abuse.

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We estimate that around a fifth of LGBTQ+ refugees end up street homeless, following either eviction from their accommodation or discrimination to the extent that they feel safer sleeping on street corners or in buses.