LGBTQ+ people, asset-based welfare and housing in the UK

Abstract

The role of housing in providing a welfare asset in later life has been widely explored. With the growth in home-ownership, house price inflation, and erosion of the welfare state, housing wealth has increasingly become part of the welfare mix in advanced economies. In this paper we present analysis of housing outcomes in terms of tenure and asset value, among people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual in Great Britain. This shows that LGB people have poorer housing outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts: they are less likely to be homeowners; more likely to be private renters; and more likely to be social renters. We conclude by arguing that as openly LGBTQ+ people are on average younger than the rest of the population, and with intergenerational inequalities in access to home ownership are growing, this could lead to LGB people, as a group, being particularly excluded from asset-based welfare in future.