YOUTH
LGBTQ Youth Shelters Strained By Virus Crisis
As queer support services vanish, some organizations aim to fi ll the gaps
BY MATT TRACY
Homeless LGBTQ youth
are facing signifi cant
barriers to emergency
housing and other services
as a result of public restrictions
brought on by the coronavirus
crisis — all while those on the
inside of shelters endure elevated
risk of contracting the virus and
organizations feel fi nancial strain
to absorb increased demand for
services.
The new realities have slammed
the most vulnerable New Yorkers
and those who help care for them.
Numerous service providers have
been forced to halt in-person services
in favor of limited, remoteonly
offerings and some homeless
shelters, including Sylvia’s Place —
a homeless shelter operated by the
Metropolitan Community Church
of New York (MCCNY) — have
stopped accepting new applicants
altogether, according to Kate Barnhart,
the director of New Alternatives
for Homeless LGBT Youth.
That shelter, she said, is currently
at full capacity and will aim to
prevent the spread of the virus by
reducing its numbers through attrition
while some residents move
along.
“There is a total breakdown of
leadership in the city and state in
terms of either making sure youth
programs had a plan for dealing
with this situation and making
sure people have necessary supplies,”
Barnhart explained in an
interview with Gay City News. “It’s
an ongoing problem.”
Still, MCCNY, which also runs
the Sylvia Rivera Food Pantry, announced
March 25 that it is continuing
to distribute a range of
food to communities in need. The
demand for their food programs
has skyrocketed by 400 percent
in just 10 days, underscoring the
profound level of food insecurity
sparked by the crisis.
The economic downturn,
school closures, and other sudden
changes sparked by the crisis
have already exacerbated housing
insecurities faced by vulnerable
Kate Barnhart, director of New Alternatives for Homeless LGBT Youth
segments of the LGBTQ population,
including students who were
abruptly booted from their college
campuses earlier this month with
little or no notice.
“Some kids were on scholarships
and they don’t have a family
to go back to,” said Alexander
Roque, who took over just weeks
ago as executive director of the Ali
Forney Center, which is among one
of the few organizations that has
remained open and continues to
provide a broad range of services.
“And this week we’ve had four new
young people kicked out of their
homes in the middle of this. It’s so
painful to think that in the middle
of this worldwide pandemic, parents
still have time to hate, to be
homophobic, to be transphobic.”
Mass layoffs have had a ripple
effect on shelters, too. Roque explained
that Ali Forney Center’s
residents typically go through a
three-year process during which
they gradually gain independence
and fi nancial stability by learning
life skills and identifying work opportunities.
But those plans have
been thwarted for some residents
who have been laid off from their
jobs as a result of the crisis, which
in turn has required the shelter
provider to step up and give them
complete fi nancial support.
“It’s back to where they were at
day one,” Roque said. “So we’re
providing everything they need.
FACEBOOK/ KATE BARNHART
Young people who are used to going
out and getting their own groceries
have no money. Having to
provide those things has been new
and challenging for us.”
And that comes with a fi nancial
hit for the agency. While other
organizations and shelters have
closed their doors to those in need,
Ali Forney Center is also scrambling
to fi ll the gaps and hoping
to absorb the costs that come
with extra demand. It continues
to offer drop-in services so young
people who are homeless can get a
meal, speak with a case manager,
get housing services, gain access
to a medical doctor, utilize career
and educational programs, receive
mental health services, and access
shelter and transitional living services.
Clients are being screened,
temperatures are being checked,
and other precautions are in place
to protect those who provide and
receive services.
Neither residents nor staff at Ali
Forney Center have tested positive
for coronavirus — not yet, at
least — but the team is bracing
for how to cope with worse news.
Roque said that unlike some other
shelters with crowded spaces,
Ali Forney Center’s housing units
are fairly spread out and response
teams have been organized around
the city to disinfect and sanitize
locations as necessary. Should
someone contract the virus, plans
are already in place to isolate sick
youth, make sure they receive care
from a medical doctor, feed them
while taking the right precautions,
and prepare their living space for
re-entry once they recover.
Unsurprisingly, there are also
signs of increased demand for services
elsewhere. Barnhart said
certain homeless populations,
such as those who tend to sleep on
the street or usually turn to public
transportation for shelter, have
instead started to seek housing at
homeless shelters in order to avoid
getting sick. She has also seen
an uptick in refugee and migrant
youth seeking shelter. She cited
an example of a child who was
released from the custody of Immigration
and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) and had to search for
shelter.
“They just dumped him,” she
said. “That’s par for the course for
them.”
Among those who are currently
in shelters, there are justifi able
fears that the virus could spread
rapidly in crowded spaces. Barnhart
said she has heard about at
least half a dozen cases of coronavirus
emerging at Department
of Homeless Services shelters.
Furthermore, she learned that
residents who become hospitalized
with complications of the virus
have been discharged back to
the same shelter from which they
came.
“There is no way to isolate people
at shelters if someone should
become sick,” said Barnhart, who
noted that staff at Trinity Place —
another shelter for homeless LGBTQ
youth — were told if a resident
became sick the hospital would
just send them back to the shelter,
regardless of whether or not there
would be space to isolate them. A
Trinity Place representative could
not be reached for comment on
March 24.
At some shelters, there are
barriers preventing those facing
housing insecurity from accessing
beds. Barnhart pointed to
➤ SHELTERING YOUTH, continued on p.9
March 25 – April 08, 2 8 020 | GayCityNews.com
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