New York City opened the country’s first city-funded shelter for transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness.
Ace’s Place, which opened this week in Queens and will offer 150 beds, is a collaboration between the NYC Department of Social Services and Destination Tomorrow, an LGBTQ nonprofit in the Bronx.
Ace’s Place will provide transitional housing as well as other services including individual and group counseling, planning and assistance for permanent housing, referrals to medical and mental health services, support groups, life skills and financial literacy workshops and employment assistance. Destination Tomorrow is also developing a work-study program for the culinary arts for residents interested in working in hospitality and food service, according to a press release from the nonprofit.
“We couldn’t be prouder to make this historic announcement that strongly affirms our values and commitment to strengthening the safety net for transgender New Yorkers at a time when their rights are roundly under attack,” Molly Wasow Park, Department of Social Services commissioner, said in a statement. “Ace’s Place will offer Transgender New Yorkers a safe place to heal and stabilize in trauma-informed settings with the support of staff who are deeply invested in their growth and wellbeing.”
Sean Ebony Coleman, founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, said Ace’s Place is a “hard-fought declaration that our Transgender and gender nonconforming siblings will no longer be pushed to the margins.”
“Ace’s Place is a community-driven answer to systemic neglect, and it’s only the beginning,” Coleman said in a statement.
Trans people disproportionately experience homelessness, in part due to facing more employment discrimination. The 2022 U.S. Trans Survey, the largest nationwide survey of trans people, with more than 90,000 respondents, found that 30% of respondents reported experiencing homelessness in their lifetimes. Eleven percent of those who had ever held a job said they had been fired, forced to resign, lost the job or been laid off because of their gender identity or expression. More than one-third (34%) of respondents were experiencing poverty.
Ace’s Place is one of only two organizations in New York City that will provide housing for adults in the LGBTQ community. Nearly all of the city’s LGBTQ shelters are for people under 25.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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