Homeless transgender people living in Las Vegas have a place they can go to get help and feel safe.

One in five transgender people have been homeless at some point in their lives, making this a critical issue for this group, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Homeless, alone and transgender, Milagros Marquez tries to get by each day.

“Sometimes people give me the worst stares… This is the streets, you know, it’s different in the streets,” she said. “People start making judgments, and they don’t even know you.”

“You get bullying just by walking down the street. A lot of transgendered women walk around with their guard up a hundred percent, because you never know.”

On a corridor by Owens Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, there are several shelters. Some dorms are for men; others are for women.

“Some other homeless people are like, ‘That’s a man,’” Marquez said. “Being transgender does make you a target at times.”

Now, the Salvation Army has a place for transgender people in need like Milagros.

“I feel lucky that this place is here, because if not, I would be stuck in a men’s dorm with… and Lord knows what could happen there,” she said.

According to the Salvation Army, this is the only shelter for transgender people in downtown Las Vegas. Other men and women have to pay $10 a night, but the safety dorm is free of charge, because there is such a need to keep transgender men and women safe.

The I-Team witnessed why during its interview with Milagros. A hostile scene unfolded after a staffer told the I-Team he asked several other people in need to watch their language. Moments before the news crew entered the shelter, the I-Team heard several nasty comments about Milagros while she stood a feet away, a sign of bullying.

“That’s when I don’t feel safe, when I’m out there,” she said.

Life before her transition was also a challenge.

“I see a person that didn’t know who they were,” she said. “Like somebody that was always questioning, ‘Who am I?’”

She describes a girl trapped in a boy’s body since the age of 7. At age 20, she left Eric behind for Milagros. That was more than a year ago. What followed, she says was trouble at work and at school in Utah.

“I wasn’t allowed to use the girls’ restroom, and I wasn’t allowed to use the boys’ restroom,” she said.

She also experienced a rocky relationship with family.

“That’s when I was like, okay, well it hit me that I’m alone now,” she said.

She says she moved to Las Vegas, because she thought employers would be more accepting, but she was let down.

“From what other people told me, the only type of job I would ever be able to get into is the sex industry, entertainment industry or prostitution and escorting,” she said.

With determination and prayer, she says she prevailed.

“I found a job as a dietary aide,” she said.

Her work badge is just as she wants it.

“I like the fact that it says Milagros,” she said.

She keeps it in her backpack where she keeps her belongings.

“I swear I look like an old lady,” she said.

Perhaps the most sentimental item is her book of goals. Her first paycheck is done.

An apartment is still on the list. The ultimate goal, she says, is happiness.

“I don’t know what it’s like to be happy. I mean, I could smile. I could do that, but to come home and be like, I’m happy that I’m this. I’m like, I’m going to get there one day,” she said.

The Salvation Army says, on average, five transgender men and women stay at the safety dorm. It’s still a work in progress.

One concern Milagros mentioned is that sometimes staffers don’t know how to address her – meaning as a man or woman. She wishes staffers would step in more when others make nasty comments.

A spokeswoman for the Salvation Army says those concerns are being addressed through training and education for staff.