Triangle Wales has been granted Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) funding to address the housing needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Wales.
The first phase of the project was to undertake an extensive research project (commissioned by Trothwy Cyf and Stonewall Cymru). This research found that there was inadequate recognition or understanding of the housing needs of LGB people amongst housing and homelessness service providers in Wales.
The research found that there were many types of housing issues that LGB people could encounter, including
Harassment in or around the home
Negative reactions, actionSeand attitudes of other people
Insensitive allocation of housing
Lack of tenancy security if a partner leaves or dies
Lack of monitoring and evaluation of LGB people, meaning that needs can be misdiagnosed or ignored
Consequently, the WAG provided the funding to develop a best-practice toolkit and training package to Local Authority housing and homelessness departmentSeand Registered Social Landlords across Wales.
This free training will be offered to all staff within these organisations to ensure they can ably meet the needs of LGB people experiencing housing problems. Two Training and Policy Co-ordinators have recently been appointed and they will travel across Wales to deliver bespoke and relevant training direct to housing providers. Triangle Wales will award a Rainbow Mark’ to all participating organisations a kite mark signifying an organisation’s commitment and knowledge of the specific housing issueSeand barriers facing LGB people.
As part of the ‘Rainbow Mark’, there will be criteria to meet and Triangle Wales will follow-up with post-training assessmentSeand monitoring (and perhaps even a mystery shopper here and there!). They will also be providing certificates, posterSeand leaflets to participantSeand helping (where necessary) to re-word policies, procedureSeand documents.
Stephen Brattan, Service Manager of Triangle Wales says It is really important that the particular needs of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community accessing housing are addressed. Trothwy Cyf hopes that this project assists housing providers in Wales to take that leap forward in addressing a range of equality and diversity issueSeand providing a fair and equal service to those identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual.
To book some training or to learn more about the Rainbow Mark please telephone Sarah Jones or Claire Purvis on 029 20453030 or email: claire.purvis@gwalia.com or sarah.l.jones@gwalia.com
Fyne News
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