New research shows that flatting is a ‘site of vulnerability’ for queer people, and recommends policy change.
“I was kicked out of a house when coming out as trans to my flatmates and asking they use my preferred name and pronouns.”
“[I was] asked to leave a flat when someone suspected I was ‘a faggot.’”
“They said they wouldn’t be comfortable with a gay couple moving in.”
“An old flatmate’s girlfriend was visibly uncomfortable interacting with me… I used to hate it when she came over.”
“My flatmate’s boyfriend often made questionable comments about queer people in front of me and she did nothing to stop it”.
These are just a few of the 894 survey responses that housing and health researcher Brodie Fraser from the University of Otago has analysed in an academic paper published this morning. The paper, Flatting amongst LGBTQI+ people in Aotearoa New Zealand, finds that over half of the queer flatter participants experienced housing discrimination. Homeowners experienced it too, though at lower levels. Homophobia and transphobia came from flatmates, landlords, property managers, visitors, real estate agents and neighbours.
Fraser put out the online survey with 45 questions covering demographics, housing quality, household composition, wellbeing, homelessness, involuntary mobility and discrimination as part of their post-doctoral research in 2022. Where their PHD had focused on the LGBTQI+ communities’ experiences of homelessness, Fraser now wanted to consider why queer people are over-represented in homeless statistics. Data from the 2023 census shows that in New Zealand, LGBTQI+ people experience homelessness at higher rates than non-LGBTQI+ people. The census also shows that LGBTQI+ people are more likely to be renting, have lower incomes and live in poorer quality housing than their non-LGBTQI+ counterparts. “Things are pretty bad,” says Fraser. “What’s going on upstream?”
People flat mainly because it’s cheaper than renting on their own. In New Zealand and other traditionally home-owning countries, flatting is becoming increasingly common, and the age of flatters is rising. Figures from the 2023 census show that young people are staying at home with family longer, likely due to affordability. However, international research shows that this is often not an option for LGBTQI+ people – family relationship breakdowns, such as parents not accepting queer identities, force people from their homes. This adds another level of precarity, and it’s more likely that LGBTQI+ people will find themselves without a home or having to accept substandard conditions – either in the built or social aspects of the home. While flatting, and bad flatting situations, are not unique to LGBTQI+ people, they often have less time, money and options when considering where to live. Where many flatters will have experienced a “bad” flatmate that leaves dirty dishes or is noisy, this latest research shows LGBTQI+ flatters deal with flatmates who are discriminatory towards their sexual orientation or gender and make them feel unsafe, or even kick them out.
The flatters in Fraser’s survey worried about housing discrimination and often moved because of a relationship breakdown within their household. Each time they had to look for a new home, they were opened up to potential discrimination from flatmates, landlords and others. There was a high rate of exposure to homelessness: 37.5% of survey respondents had experienced it. Another recurring theme was that people preferred to live with other queer people to avoid potential homophobia or transphobia. This can involve housing hunting through specific avenues.
Flatting is a kind of “wild west”, says Fraser. It’s often seen as being part of a life stage that young people pass through, though data, particularly from the census, shows that it is increasingly becoming a long-term arrangement for adults, due in part to housing unaffordability. Still, legal and policy frameworks are not targeted at flatting. The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 only covers tenants (who have signed onto the lease) and landlords, not flatmates. Only landlord-tenant disputes are heard by the Tenancy Tribunal. There is a house sharing agreement template, but it “holds no actual weight,” says Fraser. It means that flatting is “a site of vulnerability, of discrimination, and you don’t have any recourse, you don’t have any way to protect yourself and you can end up homeless very, very quickly”.
Fraser points to another piece of research, from the UK, on why policy may be missing. It examined parliamentary discussions, particularly around LGBT homelessness, and found that across parties, there’s an emphasis on collecting data before action towards policy. The authors argue that the conservative political party can signal progress without risking their conservative supporters. “Parliamentarians in particular, use lack of data and lack of evidence as a way to say, well, we can’t do anything because we don’t know anything,” says Fraser. “It’s a way for them to avoid taking responsibility for something that is so clearly an issue.”
The findings of the research published today came as no surprise to Fraser, who is seven years deep into studying the broader topic. But that’s not to say it’s not important to them. “It is really affirming to get that down and to be able to publish it in an academic way. That puts weight behind what activists are saying, what the community members are saying. Science has shown that this is what is happening. We’re not just making it up. Please listen to us.”
