OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has lead to an increase in homelessness in underprivileged populations as people lose jobs and homes. Elucidating hardships faced by this group can better prepare future programs in supporting LGBTQIA+ youth and prevent homelessness and housing insecurity in this population.

METHODS: We used a systematic literature search on Pubmed to filter literature that was published since December 2019 and used Boolean search operators to create a variation of 56 search terms that was used as queries. The subsequent articles were collected and their abstracts were evaluated and relevant articles were subjected to complete paper data collection and analysis, where we collected information such as race/ethnicity, sexuality, age range, and health disparities for homelessness in each study.

RESULTS: We found 77 unique papers on Pubmed, and of those, 2 unique papers that fit the inclusion and exclusion criteria. One paper was mixed-methods convergent parallel design and the other one was a cross-sectional study. Bisexual youths were more likely to face homelessness and live alone as minors, however all orientations are equally likely to sleep outdoors. Strikingly, both articles extensively describes the increased levels of mental health struggles, such as depression and anxiety (OR = 4.06, p = .009), as well as reduced access to healthcare and social services. Both articles also called for more research into this topic to expand the current knowledge base to help this community

CONCLUSIONS: LGBTQIA+ youths were disproportionately affected by the pandemic in an increase in housing insecurity in available literature. Additional research is also needed to characterize how this population was affected in terms of financial need and food insecurity, as well as additional characterization of services that are needed to prevent this disparity in the future.