Mexico: How gentrification affects LGBT people's access to housing
The advanced process of gentrification in Mexico directly threatens LGBT people's access to housing. The role of activism and concern about the approaching 2026 World Cup.
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. For two decades, rights for LGBT+ communities have been recognized in Mexico. Primarily, the right to equal marriage and, although not entirely, the recognition of gender identity. However, behind the progress and the official discourse of inclusion, the demand for the right to housing is underpinned by the phenomenon of gentrification.
Lawyer and housing rights advocate Carla Escoffié has insisted that gentrification "is not positive." She also believes it must be understood as a "preventable and reversible" process. She explained during an interview with journalist Julio Astillero.
Escoffié points out that gentrification is an expression of socioeconomic inequality. It is not a phenomenon of modernization but rather a process of displacement. “It is the process by which a neighborhood previously considered 'in decline' is revalued by people from socioeconomic strata with greater purchasing power than its original inhabitants. The arrival of these new residents generates a change in consumption and living dynamics that ultimately displaces the original population,” he explains in this article published in the magazine Este País .
These barriers are heightened among LGBT+ people and exacerbated among those living in vulnerable conditions and experiencing family exclusion. Thus, gentrification and processes of dispossession intersect with existing prejudices and barriers, multiplying their effects on these populations.
"In Mexico, we don't have a public housing policy, but rather a real estate policy."
Attorney Escoffié previously explained to Presentes that in Mexico, housing is viewed as a market object, not a right or a necessity. “The right to housing is not guaranteed. We don't have a public housing policy, but rather a real estate policy,” she said.
So how do we understand housing? For her, housing itself is the right to have a place to live. It also includes measures to prevent forced evictions that are arbitrary, illegal, and unjustified; and even the right to non-discrimination in access to housing.
In 2022, the National Discrimination Survey (ENADIS) found that 1 in 5 LGBT+ people had been denied a right in the last five years. Furthermore, it found that 1 in 3 people (33.4%) would not be willing to rent a room in their home to a trans person .
This percentage decreases slightly among lesbian or gay people (29.8%) . Violence there ranges from denying them rental housing, to evictions and harassment by neighbors, especially if they live with a partner or are transgender, and being forced to move.
Covid-19 has exacerbated the barriers to the right to housing.
The gentrification phenomenon in Mexico City took on a greater impact after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The arrival of more digital nomads to the city caused rents to rise, particularly in downtown areas, and an increased number of spaces allocated to accommodation platforms like Airbnb.
Among the most vulnerable populations, one of the first consequences of the COVID-19 emergency was the closure of hotels. This left sex workers in Mexico City, especially trans women, homeless and without a place to work. According to the Survey: Differentiated Impact of COVID-19 on the LGBT Community in Mexico , 7 out of 10 people of sexual diversity lost all or part of their income, with trans people being the most affected.
Likewise, 1 in 3 LGBT+ people were unable to afford housing. 4.84% were forced to leave their homes due to domestic violence related to their sexual orientation and gender identity in the context of isolation.
Activisms respond to the lack of access to housing
In the face of the COVID-19 emergency, activists did the work of the State in addressing the violation of the right to housing of LGBT+ people in Mexico City.
An example of this was the activation of shelters such as Casa Frida , which at the time was primarily focused on migrant populations, and Casa Lleca, a shelter and community kitchen that is still active and is currently experiencing the consequences of gentrification in the city.
“We can't do this work alone; it's up to the authorities. We mobilized to demand housing and to eliminate the need for them to return to shelters. We protested at the Ministry of Welfare and demanded the presence of the Mexico City Housing Institute. Through that mobilization and the testimonies of our colleagues, we reached an agreement to build housing for 42 trans people,” explained Victoria Sámano, founder of Lleca, listening to the street.
The authorities are supposed to deliver these 42 homes within a year and a half. They aren't free, and they're also going to relocate the Lleca shelter to Iztapalapa, a suburban area east of Mexico City.
The impact of these actions on LGBT+ populations is not limited to moving further away. Leaving the space to which they move can mean losing access to work, spending more money and time on their transportation, less access to specialized health services, and less opportunity to exercise their right to the city. This, in turn, means less access to their community and emotional health networks.
"We're asking the government to relocate Casa Lleca to the city center. That's where the majority of the homeless population is concentrated, but they tell us there aren't any spaces that can be rehabilitated. Their view is that the populations that bother them are better off living on the outskirts. There, they don't bother the population that does have access to these resources and can live in the city center," says Sámano.
In fact, none of the shelters for homeless people run by the Mexico City government are located downtown. They're all located on the outskirts.
Increased vulnerabilities ahead of the 2026 World Cup
With the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, Prime Minister Clara Brugada has said that the event will allow for "projects and interventions that will last forever and combat social shortcomings."
Among them are the Tlalpan bike path, which will connect the Zócalo with the Azteca Stadium, and the Elevated Park, a pedestrian and bicycle path with green areas along the same avenue. Although these projects are presented as mobility and public space projects, organized sex workers have protested the threat that threatens their workplace and safety. Tlalpan is one of the main centers for sex workers in the city.
According to La Jornada , “César Cravioto, the capital's government secretary, said that seven roundtable discussions have been held with sex workers, where the use of different clothing in areas where schools are located has also been addressed, at the request of parents.”
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