Sunday, January 26, 2020

I Would Like To Have One In Connecticut, But…

It takes money to operate a shelter, a lot of money, and every year. It also takes a large population base, neither of which Connecticut has.
SF Opens First Transitional Housing Project For Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Adults
SF News
By Matt Charnock
25 January 2020

Thursday's ribbon-cutting ceremony along Washington Street in Chinatown marked the grand reveal of a first for the city: A transitional housing project aimed at helping transgender and gender non-conforming San Franciscans.

According to the SF Examiner, the 13-unit apartment building was unveiled to a gaggle of supporters — among them Mayor London Breed, herself, and transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) community leaders — as part of the ongoing work conducted by the Our Trans Home SF initiative. The coalition recently received a $2.3M allocation, that amount, aside from securing the rent of this Washington Street address, is also being used to provide rental subsidies to TGNC individuals.
[…]
Accepted individuals are given a safe roof over their heads, but also sustenance, vocational training and opportunities, clothing and apparel, and even the means to a savings account (with funds). Our Home SF also will provide rent support for TGNC people facing eviction and those advocating for institutional change.
A few years ago we looked in to a shelter for trans people here in Connecticut and every time we ran in to barriers to the shelter. For one thing finding funding and a place were interlocked… no place without funding and no funding without a place.
The Bay Area reporter notes that the Chinatown property is owned by a gay couple who wish to remain anonymous, which is being rented to the non-profit for a below-market rate. The already approved thirteen program residents are slated to move in around March, and talks of getting a second house are already in the works.
I wish that we could find a patron like that.

One place that I loved was an old convent, I thought at the time it would be perfect. Loads of bedrooms, a big kitchen, rooms for meetings.

Another place where we need housing is for trans seniors but the problem is that there are only a few trans seniors who need housing. Most seniors in 55 and over housing want to be near loved ones or friends, so if was a senior long term care facility (LTC) and they set aside rooms for trans people we would only have one or two trans people take advantage of the rooms in the whole state.

Meanwhile in cities like New York or San Francisco have the population to support trans or LGBTQ+ housing. New York City has approximately 8.5 million people who the whole of Connecticut only has about 3.5 million people. Say for argument sake one percent of the population (it is more like 0.5%) are trans, that means in NYC has about 850,000‬ trans people and Connecticut has about 350,000 trans people, about 15% are over 65, that means there are 127,000 people in NYC that are trans and over 65. In all of Connecticut there is approximately 52 thousand trans people.

Connecticut is 5,543 square miles, NYC is 302.6 square miles, or 23 trans people per square miles verses 2,800 trans people per square mile in NYC; New York City has the population density to support  trans housing and this doesn’t figure in those who can afford to live at home.

I know that if I do need LTC I will be the only trans person there.

No comments:

Post a Comment