2B) EXCLUSIONARY HOUSING & DOMESTIC ZONING 2C) QUEER KINSHIP FORMATIONS: FROM A HOUSE TO A HOMO 8

geographies of queer and gender-nonconforming individuals, where enclaves or clusters formed beyond The Church-Wellesley Village? What themes and patterns emerge within these clusters?

2) STRUCTURES: FAMILY AND RESIDENTIAL

Research exploring structures of community and kinship formations within the LGBTQIA2S+ community has recognized the value of ‘queer kinship’ or ‘chosen family,’ describing non-biological relationships at all stages of an individual's life (Butler, 2002;Croghan et. al., 2014; Brennan-ing et. al., 2014). Butler (2002) offers “kinship as a set of practices that institutes relationships of various kinds which negotiate the reproduction of life and the demands of death” (p. 14-15). It is necessary to note the presence of human dependency that makes up and brings forth the moments of practicing kinship. Kinship is not something that can be achieved by a singular person, it requires others. Kinship is characteristically interdependent; there is a reaching out - a ‘being’ for yourself but also a ‘doing’ for others as a process through which care and relationships are established (Tronto,1993).

The 2021 national census has expanded to include a broader range of gender and sexuality demographics, yet the ways in which census families and family households are defined is both dismissive of non-biological ‘chosen family’ and exclusionary towards the LGBTQIA2S+ community. In the 2021 Canadian Census, non-family households are defined as an individual living alone or two or more people who live together but do not constitute a census family (Statistics Canada 1, 2022) . Statistics Canada (2022) defines a census family as a couple in a romantic relationship (married or common law, with or without children) or a guardian and child, all of whom must live in the same household. Despite two or more person non-census family households being the fastest growing house type in Canada (Statistics Canada, 2021) and cohabitation with members of chosen family being a common household structure (Levin et.al., 2020), non-biological relationships go unrecognized. 2A) (RE)DEFINING FAMILY, FROM NUCLEAR TO QUEER

The presence of chosen family and kinship structures have come into question and gained a sense of importance as research has consistently shown that rejection and severance from family is a common experience for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, meaning that they must look elsewhere for support in survival. In searching for other LGBTQIA2S+ individuals to build relationships and a sense of community with, queer people are not simply looking for communities in likeness, but seek the development of care and support networks both by and for queer individuals. Often resulting from necessity and survival, the act of claiming one’s sexuality or gender identity often holds the risk of tensoning family ties or severing ties all-together. As such, experiences of youth homelessness and the distancing between child and parent is evident in Canada; the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corportation (2019) found that rejection of queer youth from the parental household significantly increases the risk of homelessness among LGBTQ2+ youth. In 2018, Statistics Canada conducted The Survey of Safety in Private and Public Space (SSPPS), which found that a significantly higher proportion of LGBTQ2+ youth aged 15-24 (35%) were living outside their parents’ homes compared to non-LGBTQ2+ youth (24%). Research identifies that youth are not isolated in these situations; LGBTQIA2S+ aging adults experience similar rejection from biological family and tend to rely on non-traditional supports Croghan et. al. (2014) highlight the role of non-kin individuals or ‘chosen family’ as a significant source of care in LGBT aging as LGBT individuals often lack traditional sources of caregivers. Similarly, Brennan-ing et. al. (2014) in Social care networks and older LGBT adults: Challenges for the future, find that biological families provided a higher number of negative responses to requests of support from LGBT individuals and as a result, rely on non-traditional kinship supports.

All-together, this suggests that the place of the nuclear family is not safe or accessible for queer youth in need of housing. It is through these ongoing needs of queer individuals for connection and support that we come across the notion of chosen family, a term that we can trace back to the work Families We Choose by anthropologist Kath Weston. It is through this foundational work that Weston (1991) describes the central role that close friends played in the lives of sexual minorities who often experienced distancing, rejection, harm or violence from their family of origin in the early 90’s. While the nuclear family primarily functions off of notions of blood and genetics, those in the LGBTQ community who seek familial relations outside of their blood ties must find other ways to connect. While overlapping identity is a starting place, it cannot keep people together; in the absence of genetic or legal ties, LGBTQIA2S+ individuals must “count on love, goodwill, trust, and commitment” (Epstein, 2009, p. 10) in any familial arrangements created. These connections and caring relations extend beyond the boundaries of the normative nuclear family, as seen in O’Brien’s work. In considering the limitations of the nuclear family structure, O’Brien (2019) seeks to expand the work of care beyond the family and into kinship structures. Care exists in many forms, and O’Brien’s work explores “care of mutual love and support, care of the labour of raising children and caring for the ill; care of erotic