Petition to NYC to Create Safe Shelter and Supportive Housing for LGBT Youths

 

To the Mayor and City Council Member of the City of New York.

 

This petition calls for the creation of safe and appropriate shelter and supportive housing for the homeless LGBT youths of New York City in the age range of 21 to 24 years old. Currently most LGBT youths in this age range are stranded in the streets without access to safe shelter or supportive housing. As a consequence, hundreds of youths in this age range are forced to resort to survival sex and other illegal activities in order to survive, frequently resulting in HIV infection, drug addiction and criminalization.

 

NYC has added 200 youth shelter beds over the past two years, including specialized beds for LGBT youths, which has been a tremendous improvement. However, all of those beds are for youths in the 16 to 20 year age range. No beds have been added for the youths in the older range. And while in theory, any young person can access the City's adult shelter system, in practice, most homeless LGBT youths are terrified of the violence and abuse that many have experienced in that system, and choose to sleep in the streets and subways.

We request the the following steps be taken to remedy this urgent crisis for the most vulnerable young adults of our community:

1. We request that the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) create shelters and transitional living programs for young adults aged 21 to 24. We recognize that the DYCD model of providing youth housing in smaller shelters creates safer environments for LGBT youths than are found in the larger adult shelters. DYCD established the precedent of caring for young adults in this age range in 2010, when the ages of youths served in the drop-in centers was increased from the age of 20 up to the age of 24.

2. We request that the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHS) establish specialized shelters for LGBT youth aged 18-24. DHS supports other shelters for special needs populations, and we request that LGBT youth be recognized as such a population in light of their extreme vulnerability. Furthermore we request that referrals to such shelters be able to be made directly from DYCD-funded drop-in centers, rather than requiring LGBT youth to go through a centralized intake system and placed in an adult shelter prior to placement, recognizing that such a referral mechanism creates insurmountable barriers for most LGBT youths.

3. We request that a minimum of 150 Supportive Housing units through the Human Resources Administration be designated as LGBT young adult programs. We applaud the recent announcement by the Mayor that 15,000 supportive housing units were to be added, and request that some be set aside to meet the special needs of LGBT young adults.

Furthermore, we recognize that the current situation, in which most LGBT youths in the 21 to 24 year age range cannot access shelter, is a public policy disaster, resulting in the terrible suffering of vulnerable youths, and a public health disaster, resulting in an epidemic of survival sex and HIV infection. We request urgent action, with a committment of a minimum of 100 shelter/supportive housing units for LGBT youth in this age range funded in the upcoming City Budget.