Considerations for Permanent Housing: Ideas and perspectives of women and gender-diverse people experiencing complex homelessness draws on findings from the [in]visible project to highlight important considerations for permanent housing, from the perspectives of women and gender-diverse people who experience complex and long-lasting homelessness.
The [in]visible project is a community-based research project, focusing on women and gender diverse people, without children in their care, who experience chronic or complex homelessness, in Hamilton, Ontario.
This study was completed in collaboration with the Women's Housing Planning Collaborative of Hamilton.
Using narrative interviewing and arts-based research approaches, the [in]visible study engaged 70 women and gender-diverse people, who had been homeless for one year or longer, to learn about:
• The housing and homelessness histories and trajectories of women, and to better understand the ways women and gender-diverse people experience and navigate long-lasting homelessness in our community.
• The ways women and gender-diverse people imagine and describe the kind of housing they would like to live in to better understand how to develop gender-specific solutions to homelessness.
This report explores eight key themes that emerged when women and gender-diverse people experiencing complex homelessness were asked to imagine and describe their preferred permanent housing.
Combining participant’s narratives, art-work and contemporary literature, the intention of this report is to bring the voices of women and gender-diverse people into conversations about developing better models of permanent housing.
This report concludes with eight key considerations relating to permanent housing, and provides some key recommendations for gender-based housing development.
Funding for the project was provided through Women’s XChange (Women’s College Hospital, Toronto Ontario).