Safe Housing
Hayden’s Fight for a Home
Written by Acacia Soares - Content Writer at Strength to Strength Mental & Physical Healthcare
Trigger Warning: This article contains references to homelessness, family violence and suicide.
Transmasculine person Hayden Moon recounts their journey of escaping homelessness and highlights the barriers to accessing safe housing and support services. Moon, who advocates for the LGBTQIA+ communities, specifically the trans community, the Aboriginal community and the disabled community, believes that everyone deserves a home.
30-year-old Hayden Moon said he has a lot of trauma from the years he experienced homelessness.
“I have a cupboard that's just full of tinned products and chips and things that don't go off because I'm so scared that I'm going to end up homeless again, and I'm going to need it,” he said.
“I have a lot of guilt when I walk past homeless people on the streets, and I can't give them money.
“I feel really guilty because I'm like, I used to be you, and I used to rely on people's donations.”
Moon was 19 years old when they fled their family violence household for good.
“When you're in that environment, what you're experiencing is so normalised by the abuser,” Moon said.
“I was trapped for so many years, just like couch surfing and living on the streets and living in tents and going back to a violent home knowing that it was very dangerous, because I was like, Well, I don't know what else there is.”
The non-denominational youth organisation, Youth Off The Streets reported that 90 per cent of young people accessing their Inner West Youth Homelessness Service have experienced domestic and family violence.
The Team Leader of their Case Work Team at the Inner West Youth Homelessness Services, Connie Azzone, said homelessness is a huge issue for young people escaping domestic and family violence.
“The fact that even if they do leave the house, most of the time when they’re couch surfing, they might opt to just, you know, spend some time with families or other family, other friends houses but that eventually breaks down,” Azzone said.
“It's not sustainable long term.”
It hurts so much, but at least it's only emotional hurt.
As a queer and trans person, Moon experienced many safety risks while being homeless.
“In the times I've been homeless, I've been at various stages of my transition,” they said.
“For trans masc people like me, it's more, do you go to a women's shelter and misgender yourself, which is awful, like devastating.
“It hurts so much, but at least it's only emotional hurt.
“I have to try and decide, do I pretend to be a woman so that I can have a safe space, or do I gender myself correctly and then go to a men's shelter, in which case I could be at huge risk of physical violence, sexual violence. So much more heightened risk than there would be at a women's shelter.”
According to Private Lives 3, three in ten trans and gender diverse participants said their gender identity was the reason they experienced barriers to housing and accessing homelessness services.
Faith-based charities pose barriers for the LGBTQIA+ community to access support services.
“A lot of the homelessness services are religious,” Moon said.
“So they don't accept queer people, they don't accept trans people.
“The Salvation Army won't even donate clothing or food to someone who's queer or trans.
“I just didn't, I didn't feel safe around a lot of the religious organisations.”
Under sections 23(b) and 37(d) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, faith-based organisations are provided broad exemptions to lawfully deny LGBTQIA+ people access to services such as healthcare, disability care or accommodation services.
The Australian Charities Report 2024 revealed that religion is the most common activity reported across Australia’s charities.
In 2016, an LGBTQIA+ youth organisation called Twenty10 provided Moon with housing services.
“They had transitional housing, so they were able to get me into that, which was incredible,” he said.
“Then I managed to get into student accommodation at Sydney Uni, but it was $320 a week and Centrelink for Youth Allowance is $220 a week.
“So it was not affordable. I paid what I could. I lived there for about 10 months, and then I racked up so much debt that the university evicted me.”
Moon was evicted in 2018 during his exams, which forced him back into the “trap of homelessness”.
“I had a really rough year that year,” he said.
“I got kicked out of my dance school because I was trans, and then one of my friends died by suicide, and then I was sexually assaulted, and then I ended up homeless.
“I tried to take my life, which was awful… but thankfully, survived that.
“So I was in the psych ward while I was homeless.”
Beyond Blue reported that 48 per cent of transgender young people have attempted suicide at some stage in their lifetime and around 3 in 4 experience anxiety or depression.
“I have somewhere safe. I'm not homeless anymore.”
The youth organisation Launchpad helped Moon change their name legally and get an ID with their new name and Youth Off The Streets, found Moon emergency accommodation which led them to accessing longer-term housing at a student cooperative.
“When I got into the student cooperative, it was this relief of I’m no longer on the streets,” Moon said.
“I have somewhere safe. I'm not homeless anymore.”
Youth Off The Streets assisted 463 young people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in 2023.
Azzone said the level of support at their two Crisis Accommodation houses has improved over the years.
“Each young person that's housed in there, whilst they've been supported by youth workers 24/7, they even have access to caseworkers,” she said.
“So the key worker and the caseworker and the young person work collaboratively to achieve any identified goals to help them move out of Crisis Accommodation into more permanent, longer solution housing for them.”
I can lock the door and be safe behind that door.
Moon now lives in a studio apartment, doing a PhD in theatre and performance studies and pursuing his passion as a performer and activist.
“Once I had safe housing, everything else fell into place,” Moon said.
“I have my own bathroom, I have my own kitchenette, I have my own wardrobe. I have my own space.
“I can lock the door and be safe behind that door.”
If you or someone you know is in need of crisis support please contact:
Lifeline on 13 11 14
Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636
For those experiencing or at risk of experiencing family violence or homelessness, please contact:
National sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service, 24-hour helpline 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732
Link2Home, available 24 hours on 1800 152 152
Photography by Acacia Soares.