The impacts of social, structural, and physical environments on homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S) adults were examined. Qualitative inter-views were conducted. Interview transcripts were analyzed thematically.

Participants discussed the ways in which social, structural, and physical environments negatively affected their experiences of homelessness, particularly those in emergency shelters. Discrimination, harassment, and group dynamics (social); exclusionary policies and lack of training (structural); and limited accommodations as well as gendered spaces (physical) created heightened vulnerability and risks for participants.

The “risk environment framework”is utilized to help understand these experiences, moving the discussion away from a neoliberal discourse of risk behaviors that individualize experiences, revealing how environments create risk. The inclusion of LGBTQ2S adults in this study highlights similar experiences to youth. The findings also emphasize the need for services to consider the ways in which an emphasis on LGBTQ2S youths can render the experiences of adults invisible.