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About Us

Our Work

Stonewall Housing provides supported housing, advice and advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in London. We research and lobby at a strategic level on the housing issues affecting our communities. At the heart of our work is the aim to help LGBT people find a home they feel safe and secure in.

Our History

Stonewall Housing was set up in 1983 as the first Housing Association aimed exclusively at meeting the needs of lesbians and gay men. An initiative from within the lesbian and gay movement, Stonewall Housing found enthusiastic support from the Greater London Council (GLC) pioneering Lesbian and Gay Sub-Committee. The GLC provided initial start-up funding and Stonewall Housing’s first residential project for 16 to 25 year olds opened in Islington in spring 1986.

Over the last two decades we have provided thousands of young lesbians and gay men with housing they feel safe in, giving them support and encouragement to express themselves and feel comfortable and confident in who they are. Many have found their way to our door having been rejected by family members because of their sexuality – in the last year over 10% of our young advice clients told us both that they had experienced family breakdown and that their housing problems were a direct result of their sexuality. Rejection from family members because of sexuality remains one of the most distressing reasons for homelessness among the young LGBT people we help.

In 1992 our pioneering Advice Service was set up due to growing demand for housing advice and information from the wider lesbian and gay communities, and in 2003 the Advice Service obtained the prestigious Community Legal Service Quality Mark. We offer free advice and advocacy on all housing issues through our daily telephone helpline, and our three weekly surgeries. Since 1992 the advice team has dealt with over 10,000 enquiries on an array of housing difficulties from LGBT people. Problems range from homophobic and transphobic harassment, domestic violence and family and relationship breakdowns, to substandard housing, issues with landlords and queries about housing benefit.

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In 2001 we launched our ground breaking research project on the needs of young homeless lesbians and gay men. This found that

• being lesbian or gay can in itself cause some young people to become homeless
• even when not a direct cause of homelessness, a young person’s sexuality can be one of the causal factors
• being lesbian or gay could add to the housing difficulties a young person experiences
• young lesbians and gay men are completely invisible in most housing and homelessness services

The research recommended that monitoring clients’ sexuality is an important step in challenging these problems. Click here to read the report summary.

In 2004 we began to implement this recommendation in an innovative project with Shelter on sexuality and housing. This involved lobbying and training mainstream housing associations and local authorities on the issues affecting the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities, encouraging monitoring of sexuality as a starting point to providing services specific to the needs of LGBT people. Stonewall Housing is proud of the successes of this project, and the resulting increase in the monitoring of sexuality in mainstream housing organisations. Click here to read the project document.

2004 also saw Stonewall Housing’s 21st anniversary, and to celebrate, we hosted an all-swinging all-dancing cabaret party, Get Your Glitz Out, at London’s Heaven nightclub with Galop. Click here to read our review.

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Our Future

In an ever-challenging funding climate, Stonewall Housing will work hard to maintain its core supported housing and advice services and look to expand these in new and innovative ways. One way the organisation will be expanding is by rolling out its service to bisexual and transgender people for the first time as a result of a consultation process with stakeholders.

We will also continue to lobby key decision-making organisations on the housing needs of LGBT people, develop strategies to maximise Stonewall Housing’s external communications, and implement a fundraising strategy to secure the long-term financial security of the organisation, with a view to supplementing grant funding with individual and corporate donations.

To find out more about Stonewall Housing’s strategic direction for 2006 to 2009 click here to read our Business Plan.

Stonewall Housing has seen many changes over the years, but the quality service we provide to LGBT people who are experiencing difficulties with their housing has been constant. Even today, your home is still the most likely place that a homophobic or transphobic hate crime will be committed, and Stonewall Housing remains the only specialist housing support provider in England wholly dedicated to serving LGBT people. This is why we continue in our commitment to help LGBT secure safer spaces to live and thrive in.

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