Solving the Country's LGBT Homelessness Crisis, One Midsize City at a Time
Only a few years ago, Tevin Brunner was sleeping on the streets of West Virginia. He was camped out in a doorway near a local college campus, where he had easy access to students to ask for money. Brunner had been raised by his grandmother until he was 11, when she could no longer care for him. He ended up in the foster system and bounced from one home to another, living in 17 homes in two years.
Around the age of 18, Brunner came out to his family and friends and ended up all alone.
“I lost my mom...I lost some close friends that I had,” said Brunner. “My mom don’t approve of it, and most my friends couldn’t handle it. They said...‘Oh, we can’t be friends with gay people.’ ”
Although he didn't have much, he had a laptop and could have accessed resources if there were any when he needed them several years ago. It was the pure kindness of a stranger that led Brunner from his stoop in West Virginia to a shelter in Cincinnati, where services for the homeless were better.
Nowadays, Cincinnati has become a testing ground for programs that are trying to find ways to provide logistical and emotional support for homeless LGBT youths like Brunner.
Along with Houston, Cincinnati has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to create pilot programs aimed at preventing homelessness in the LGBT community, and better serving those already without a home. These plans were presented at a summit this week in New York, and strategies will be shared with cities across the country.
The issue is a national one: While only 5 to 7 percent of the general youth population in the U.S. is gay, bisexual, or transgender, LGBT kids make up nearly 40 percent of homeless youths.
Kevin Finn is president and CEO of Strategies to End Homelessness, an agency that oversees about 30 homeless service providers in Cincinnati. The Ohio city was chosen because of its “strong” homeless service system, its data collection, and the fact that it is “average enough” to be representative of many medium-size cities throughout the country, said Finn.
“Part of the problem with this whole issue is the lack of data that’s available,” said Finn.
In addition to gathering data to understand the problem better, there are some strategies that can be implemented almost immediately, such as a mobile app that can connect LGBT homeless to services they need.
A whopping 62 percent of homeless youths have cell phones, according to a 2011 USC study, and they often use these phones to stay in touch with family or contact prospective employers. Now, this technology may be used to help these kids and teens find local emergency shelters, safe public restrooms, and LGBT-friendly churches.
Prevention has worked for Cincinnati before. In recent years, service providers tracked where homeless individuals came from directly preceding their arrival at shelters. They found that many people had been evicted or lost their homes and were sleeping on friends' and family’s couches leading up to their homelessness, said Finn. With this information, area service providers were able to modify their prevention programs to target this demographic.
“People in our prevention programs and people in our shelters should mirror each other,” said Finn. “The only other difference is the timing.”
Now, Cincinnati has turned its focus to the LGBT community. Over the last six months the Sheakly Center for Youth, which caters to homeless people ages 18 to 24, has begun asking people about their sexual orientation.
About 15 percent of people reported being gay or transgender, said Finn, adding the number is likely a low estimate. Some people are uncomfortable sharing personal information like this, and often LGBTQ homeless are reluctant to seek services at all, he said. Many gay or transgender kids end up homeless after being rejected by their own families because of their sexual orientation. Others often emerge from foster care, or suffer neglect and abuse, according to a 2012 report from UCLA Williams Institute.
Meredith Hicks is planning and policy director for Lighthouse Youth Services, which not only oversees the Sheakly center but offers emergency housing, drop-in centers, community schools, and foster services for youths across Southeast Ohio. Now, the agency is looking into building LGBT-specific housing and shelters, as well as recruiting more LGBT-friendly foster parents.
“It’s not enough to create a space that tolerates every young person. We want to make them [LGBT homeless] feel welcome and supported, and that their individual needs are met,” said Hicks.
Such a system is a long-term goal for Cincinnati that requires additional funding.
The strategies will now be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and then shared at conferences on homelessness throughout the country.
There is proof that such services and a little help can go a long way. Brunner, the LGBT teen from West Virginia, is now 21 and planning to attend Northern Kentucky University. He wants to start studying to become a special education teacher, his lifelong dream.
“I had little bumps in the road here and there, but, hey, that’s normal,” said Brunner.
Related stories on TakePart:
• Awesome Gay Dads Instagram Their Way to LGBT Visibility
• LGBTQ Kids More Likely to Be Mistreated in Foster Care, Wind Up Homeless
• Gay Couples to Nebraska: Let Go of Prejudice and Let Us Adopt
Original article from TakePart
