Lauren Uss, Juliana Benoliel, Emily Lucas, and Christa Price LGBT Homeless Youth in New York City

Background Information on the Population New York City is home to more than 3,800 homeless youth. 1,500 members of this population identify as members of the LGBT community, and some estimate this number to be drastically inaccurate, and propose that the actual number is much higher (Gibson,2011). Please right click the link below for some more information on the day to day experiences of a member of the homeless youth LGBT community:

How Does This Happen? During out field research, one of the questions we wanted to answer was “how does a LGBT member, become homeless?” We found that in many cases, family conflict is what lead to an individual to live on the streets. These family disputes are most often caused by family conflicts specifically surrounding the event of an LGBT individual coming out (Ray,2006).

What Major Issues/Risks Does This Community Experience? Some of the issues that plague the Youth LGBT homeless community include the following, but are not limited to: STD’s, STI’s and HIV infection Criminalization Malnutrition Mental Illness Depression Substance abuse

Did You Know? A member of the LGBT community is 7 times more likely to encounter violence on the streets, or some form of crime, than a straight individual.

Criminalization In respect to the criminalization that occurs within the population, specifically “theft of transit” was found to be a significant issue. Many members of this community have no money to their name, and no where to go. If an individual is caught sneaking into the subway to avoid a transit fee, the police have the discretion to either charge them with transit theft, or a misdemeanor of theft of services which is a much more severe charge. This is a charge that is disproportionately used in situations involving people of color, transgendered individuals, and immigrants. As a result of the discrimination associated with this charge, members of this population will likely receive the more harsh charge. (K Rapinan, Legal Advocate, Nov. 13, 2013).

Criminalization Continued Not only does this community run the risk of being arrested or tickets for theft of services, but being homeless also means these individuals will often have no where to go. In the past it may have been easier for the population to hang out in public places without running the risk of being arrested or penalized in any way. Due to the gentrification of many areas, like Christopher Street Pier, a very popular hang out for this community in past years, these youth have very limited options. This location and others like it, are not being closed at 1:00am, after which they are heavily policed to ensure that no one is trespassing. If youth refuse to leave they can be ticketed, and in some cases arrested (Gibson, 2011).

STI’s HIV/AIDS Many of these individuals may be infected with with either HIV or a different STD/STI as a result of prostitution/escorting in exchange for food or a place to stay (Luna Ortiz, Personal Communication, November ) Members of this community rarely have insurance. Most of the medical care that would be available to someone in a different situation is not available to this community. As a result these individuals not only miss out on appropriate care for their illness, but also go a much longer time without the knowledge that they are carriers of these different illnesses, only putting the individual and the community at greater risk.

What Is Currently Provided to this Community? -Free HIV and STI testing -Temporary housing -Meals -Drop in centers for legal advice or counseling

Issues With Services Currently Provided: The issue is not necessarily with the level of service that is provided to this community, but more an issue with the amount of service these agencies and organizations are able to provide with the limited amount of budgetary funds available. Individuals are reaching out trying to obtain services, the issue is more that there are not enough services to go around. The Ali Forney Center provides temporary housing in the form of an overnight shelter. Every night, the center has a waiting list of 100 people who miss out on a chance to have a bed that night. In addition it is very difficult for these services to get in contact with members of this population due to their homeless status.

Issues with Services Currently Provided An alternative view to the current systems in place, is also that they are part of the negative cycle. By providing this emergency form of care, and not addressing the root causes of the individuals situation, for example issues within their family, the non profits in a way become a part of the issue. Without addressing these serious issues, that as discussed are the direct cause of many of these youths being homeless, we are fostering a sense of dependence raher than taking an opportunity to foster interdependence (E. Bratton, personal communication, Nov. 8 th, 2013).

What Does This Community Need to Provide Better Service?