The Worsening Plight of Homeless LGBT Youths

Most charities and non-profits are suffering from funding shortfalls as fundraising events get cancelled due to the continuing pandemic even as demands for their services increase due to job losses across the employment spectrum, especially in lower paying and the restaurant and hospitality industries.  LGBT youth already make up a disproportionate part of homeless youths thanks to "Christian" and other "religious" parents who disown them and throw them on the streets.  Now, the agencies and non-profits that serve them are caught in a financial crunch - many because localities are suffering from plummeting revenues - which leaves these vulnerable members of society at even higher risk and at higher levels of desperation.  Perhaps most sad is the fact that but for religious based bigotry and parents' willing embrace of ignorance and the words of charlatans and scamvangelists, many would not be homeless.  Religion too often is the source of evil. A piece in the Washington Post looks at this sad and tragic situation.  (If this sickens you, Goggle some of the organizations named in the article and see if they take online donations)  Here are article highlights:

At the Wanda Alston Foundation, a transitional housing program for LGBTQ young adults in D.C., every single resident lost a job at the start of the pandemic.

The 20 people in the program, all ages 18 to 24, have been applying for jobs daily, but none of them have been able to return to work, said June Crenshaw, the organization’s executive director. With the youths staying in the facilities at all hours of the day, the shelter’s food expenses have skyrocketed.

Even as the pandemic has dealt a major blow to the organization’s usual fundraising, the staff has seen an uptick in calls for help from homeless LGBTQ youths in the community — young queer and transgender people sleeping in cars or train stations. “People are desperate,” Crenshaw said. “They are compromised and vulnerable, and they will make tough choices.”

[F]or some organizations serving LGBTQ youths, the cuts could be painful.  SMYAL, which provides housing for 26 young LGBTQ adults in D.C., the funding reductions could amount to as much as $50,000. The organization is already experiencing a significant decline in revenue in part because a major fundraiser of the year, a fall brunch, was forced to go virtual because of the pandemic, said Sultan Shakir, SMYAL’s executive director. Meanwhile, they’ve had to take on greater expenses to provide youths with devices for telehealth and Zoom calls. Almost all of the youths that previously had jobs are now unemployed.

For Casa Ruby, which provides shelter, food and emergency services to about 200 young LGBTQ people every day, the cuts could amount to more than $170,000, said founder and executive director Ruby Corado. The organization has seen a 60 percent increase in people coming to its drop-in center, but it has also seen its financial support from restaurants and other local businesses plummet.

The looming budget cuts are coming at the worst possible time for the communities they serve, advocates say. Crenshaw worries about the mental health of the youths in her program, as many of them have struggled to adapt to the shift to telehealth for counseling services. She worries about the residents who have lost the jobs they depended on to “stabilize their circumstances.” The majority of the youths in her program had used underground economies to support themselves in the past, Crenshaw says, including sex work.

Crenshaw and other advocates fear the high rates of unemployment, coupled with a mental health crisis, might force homeless LGBTQ youths — particularly transgender women of color — to turn to sex work at a particularly dangerous time.

“When LGBTQ youth experience homelessness, then they more often than not turn to sex work," said Cyndee Clay, executive director of HIPS, a D.C. organization that supports and advocates for sex workers. “When people are feeling more at risk and people are worried about money, they take greater risks.”

While HIPS has not yet heard about any cuts to its grants from the District, “we expect them to be coming,” Clay said. She also worries that if other organizations supporting the LGBTQ homeless population have to cut back on programs, HIPS will see an even greater demand for its services. Budget cuts to LGBTQ housing, Clay said, “is literally the worst thing that we could be doing.”

Sex workers had already struggled to find clients online before the pandemic, after federal measures shuttered websites like Backpage and Craigslist’s personals. The regulations made it harder for sex workers to control what clients they accepted, and instead forced many of them to walk the streets to find work. . . . . But clients are fewer and are not willing to spend as much, meaning sex workers are willing to accept lower rates. “It’s become very competitive, and that in and of itself can create a violent atmosphere,” Spellman said. . . . . Many of those who previously relied on sex work for income were also not eligible for federal covid-relief funds or unemployment insurance.

Others in the community are turning to sex work for the first time to pay the bills, Moten said.