Push for equitable access for trans homeless
A new policy document drafted by the Gender Centre and produced by the Women’s and Girls Emergency Centre (WAGEC) will aim to educate homelessness service providers on the specific issues facing the transgendered homeless.
WAGEC will this week begin distributing copies of its It’s Not Rocket Science policies and procedures guide for shelter staff in an effort to ensure equity and access to services by transgender clients.
The situation for homeless trans people is slowly improving, WAGEC service manager Lara Sabbadin explained, but there is still a way to go in educating shelter workers in particular on how to address and assist trans clients.
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed with inner city services is they’re scared to have a conversation around clients being transgender, she said.
We have a glossary of terms to try and educate mainstream services around different language, so they can recognise a transgender person as opposed to someone who is not legally recognised and the difference between a cross-dresser and an intersex person.
Sabbadin added that access to services remains a problem. Sydney has 86 crisis beds for women compared to 380 for men in the city, leaving women’s shelters in a difficult situation.
If you’re looking at the resources around access to women’s beds, there’s a quarter of the number of beds for women as there are for men. When you have increasing numbers of transgender women trying to access those beds, it really highlights how underresourced we are.
There’s a sizeable difference in the actual access, so a lot of the time there just aren’t the beds available to get them into a refuge.
The policies outlined in the document aren’t completely unheard-of in the sector, according to Sabbadin, but this document will provide an essential and accessible guide for workers.
There are points on procedures when a client is getting harassed or how to manage other clients who are saying -˜no, this is a man, he shouldn’t be in a women’s service’.
It’s also for workers who are having to address that kind of harassment from clients, which can be quite easy to just let go, because it’s challenging, particularly when the worker doesn’t feel confident in gender language.
The policies aren’t groundbreaking. They’re policies around equity and access and highlighting the challenges for transgender clients.
info: For more on the policy document and trans homelessness visit http://wagectransgenderproject.wordpress.com.
You May Also Like
As a transperson myself I think this is an important initiative. I have been one of the lucky ones in that I have a paid work and a nice home to live in. I am well aware of the ignorance in the general society. However I will say that the glass is half full. There are some understanding people out there who want to undertand and help.
One of the major problems in the trans community is that when people change gender they quite understandably want to change completely into their new gender and be totally invisible. I have no problem with this.
However when it comes to law reform it is very difficult to then get these people to be public and talk about these issues to help mobilise the people of goodwill. It requires trans people to have a bit of courage and come forward and talk about these issues so as to combat the ignorance and actually get law reform. Yes I know this is very hard!!
Not trying to blow my own trumpet too much, but I am on 2XX Q (Queer) – radio in Canberra as a presenter. We broadcast on the web on a Saturday night 7pm to 9pm.
Once a month when the mood takes me I will talk about transgender issues. The purpose is to raise the general public knowledge on trans issues above ignorant, as well as for the trans community to say there is somebody out there who has been down the same path.
I hope the above helps.
Stephanie