First Bay Area Transgender Shelter Aims to Open Doors

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[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ue to the harassment, abuse, and neglect they have encountered in shelters, transgender people in the Bay Area have been forced to live on the streets.
Transgender women are specifically impacted by the lack of safe or affordable housing, while experiencing high rates of discrimination in employment and education.
With the help of the community, all of that will soon change. Queens Cottage Shelter and Transitions House, a trans housing advocacy group, plan to open the area’s first housing program for transgender women. Queens Cottage Shelter and Transitions House are partnering with local organizations, including the SF LGBT Center’s Trans Employment Program (TEEI), an initiative that provides career and educational services to the trans community.
Breezy Golden-Farr, founder of Queens Cottage Shelter, and Clair Farley, Transitions House founder and associate director of economic development at the SF LGBT Center, recently started a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGoGo.com.
Initially, Queens Cottage Shelter’s goal was to raise $5,000. The community took interest in this one-of-a-kind project, and Queen’s Cottage Shelter raised almost $10,000 by the end of the first week.
Queens Cottage Shelter and Transitions House hopes to make their dream a reality with the continued support of crowd funders. The organizations hope to raise $20,000 to offer shelter, food, connections to local resources and a safe haven to transgender women in the area.
A first of its kind, Queens Cottage Shelter will be the only shelter for transgender women in Oakland, Calif. In partnership with Transitions House and the community, Queens Cottage Shelter hopes to open its doors and provide stable housing and referrals to community resources to trans women in the area.
Contact Transitions House and Queens Cottage Shelter
Clair Farley, SF LGBT Center
Email: clairf@sfcenter.org
Phone: (415) 865-5632
IndieGoGo.com Campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/trans-housing-now-queens-cottage-shelter
 

“When’s the Last Time You Slept on the Street?” A question raised by demonstrators calling for shelter, housing and services for transgender youth who are homeless.
“When’s the Last Time You Slept on the Street?” A question raised by demonstrators calling for shelter, housing and services for transgender youth who are homeless.

 

National Campaign for Youth Shelter

The National Campaign for Youth Shelter is being launched in partnership by the National Coalition for the Homelessness and the Ali Forney Center. The New York-based Ali Forney Center has worked with numerous organizations to put together a huge rally for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness.

LGBTQ youths are disproportionately over-represented in the homeless youth population, with as many as 40 percent of the nation’s homeless youth being LGBTQ. It is important to remember this devastating statistic during Pride Month and to band together to effect change for ALL young people.

Over the course of the campaign, we are determined to see:

1. A federal commitment to provide ALL young people, ages 24 and under, with immediate access to safe shelter.

2. An immediate commitment to add 22,000 shelter beds along with appropriate services — a five-fold increase over the current level of resources.

3. A more accurate and comprehensive effort to count the number of homeless youth in the nation in order to determine the number of beds that are needed over the next decade.

In order to see improvements in the lives of young people experiencing homelessness, we must all work together and speak out! Please use your voice to help others understand the gravity of this issue.
For more information, please visit the National Campaign for Youth Shelter web page: http://www.nationalcampaignforyouthshelter.org
— from The Advocate by the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Read more:
At the Frontlines, Youth Continue to Fight Queer and Trans Homelessness
By Hannah K. Gold
Published by {Young}ist, a youth-led media group dedicated to dismantling systems of privilege, power, and oppression by amplifying the voices of frontline communities.