Council Praised for Easing Homeless Youth Barriers
City lawmakers remove requirement for youth to enter adult shelters to get vouchers
BY MATT TRACY
Leaders of LGBTQ youth
service providers are welcoming
the City Council’s
overwhelming passage of
two bills designed to reduce hurdles
for homeless and runaway
youth seeking rental assistance
vouchers.
The two pieces of legislation approved
by city lawmakers on November
23 allow runaway and
homeless youth seeking housing
vouchers — which cover costs
of housing — to forego a requirement
to fi rst enter an adult shelter
as long as they have spent at least
three months in either foster care
or a youth shelter funded by the
Department of Youth and Community
Development. Stephen T. Levin
spearheaded both bills, which are
similar but slightly different: One
focuses on youth who have spent
time in shelters and the other pertains
to youth in foster care.
The legislation now goes to outgoing
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who
supports the bills, according to the
non-profi t publication The City.
To this point, young New Yorkers
experiencing homelessness have
been forced to fi rst go through an
adult shelter in order to gain access
to housing vouchers, which
advocates say poses all kinds of
dangers — especially when those
shelters are not designed to cater
specifi cally to youth, let alone
queer youth.
“Young people in adult shelters
are often targeted by folks for
theft, violence, or even sexual assault,
so LGBT youth face a great
deal of transphobia and homophobia
from both other residents and
many of the staff,” said New Alternatives
for LGBT Youth executive
director Kate Barnhart, who
provides services to queer youth
to help them transition out of the
shelter system. “This is something
we’ve been fi ghting for for a long
time. It’s a big step forward. It’s
much safer for youth to be able to
be able to receive vouchers from
youth shelters as opposed to having
to take risks in an adult shelter.”
YOUTH
Kate Barnhart, executive director of New Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth, said she has been fi ghting for access to housing vouchers for years.
Not one city lawmaker voted
against the bills. Term-limited
Councilmember Bill Perkins of
Manhattan, who was ousted by
out lesbian candidate Kristin Richardson
Jordan in the Democratic
primary earlier this year, was the
lone lawmaker absent from voting
on the legislation.
The Council’s passage of the two
bills follows The City’s revelation
earlier this year that the de Blasio
administration had an internal
agreement codifying the rule
requiring youth to go through an
adult shelter before becoming eligible
for vouchers. The legislation
caps off a years-long campaign to
streamline the housing voucher
process for homeless youth in the
fi ve boroughs.
“Going to an adult shelter fi rst
negates the point of youth shelters,
which is that youth need a specialized
place to be,” Barnhart said.
Alexander Roque, the executive
director of the Ali Forney Center
— which is the nation’s largest organization
serving queer youth —
thanked elected leaders for prioritizing
young individuals in need of
housing.
“AFC remains very grateful to
the great City of New York and its
leadership for the provisions and
affi rmation that it has offered our
homeless,” Roque told Gay City
News in response to the passage
of both bills. “No one should have
to suffer on the streets because of
their experiences, and this is a testament
to the city’s commitment to
invest, prioritize, and center homeless
communities, including our
homeless LGBTQ youth.”
Barnhart cautioned that the
easing of requirements for vouchers
“does not mean everyone is
suddenly housed,” however. Many
folks who do obtain vouchers encounter
discriminatory landlords
who will avoid renting to them, she
said, while others are susceptible
to scams and predatory landlords.
DONNA ACETO
Some folks wind up stuck in apartments
that are in disrepair.
Both Barnhart and Roque acknowledged
the looming change in
leadership in city government as
they expressed their hope that the
next crop of elected leaders will prioritize
the needs of homeless queer
youth — particularly Black trans
individuals. Among the issues on
the agenda moving forward, Barnhart
explained, include supportive
housing for individuals with mental
health needs.
“This is very much a long haul,
but we are hopeful that some of
the policies we are advocating for
will be more accepted,” Barnart
said.
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