The six-storey housing facility is built. The residents are settling into their studio apartments. And the life skills coach is gearing up to begin job-training services.

Welcome to True Colors Residence, New York’s first permanent housing facility for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth, aptly named after the hit song by pop star Cyndi Lauper, who helped spearhead the $11 million project.

Four years in the making, the residence celebrated its grand opening Friday Sept. 9 in Harlem, after countless meetings with the public and private sector to secure funding and support.

The project should serve as a model and inspiration for Toronto, say local advocates, who note the city does not have a crisis shelter specific for LGBT youth. In sharp contrast, New York City has shelters, transitional homes and, now, the state’s first permanent housing facility solely for LGBT youth.

Lauper said the large number of LGBT homeless youth in New York City — about 40 per cent — prompted her to partner with West End Intergenerational Residence, which assists homeless youth, families and older adults. Lauper, a longtime gay rights advocate, said she was moved by “disturbing” reports of discrimination, including verbal and physical abuse, experienced at places where youth had sought help.

“This is shocking and inexcusable,” wrote the 58-year-old songstress in an online letter. “Our primary goal is to provide a physically and emotionally safe and supportive environment that will empower our young residents to be the self-loving, happy and successful individuals they were meant to be.”

The energy-efficient building, named after Lauper’s 1986 song, consists of 30 apartments and has a computer room, resource library and communal indoor and outdoor space, as well as support services for the youth, aged 18-24.

Residents will pay rent that amounts to about 30 per cent of their income. And unlike shelters and transitional housing, residents can stay as long as they like.

Funds for the project came from various sources, including the city, the state, private foundations and investors that received tax credits.

“I thought it was going to be incredibly difficult to get people to buy into this, but people were very, very accepting, excited and recognized the need,” says Colleen Jackson, executive director of West End. “We were really quite fortunate that no one said they didn’t have the money.”

Lauper’s star power helped fundraising efforts, but more importantly, brought attention to the cause, says Jackson. Lauper will remain active in the project as the honorary chair of the residence’s board of directors.

“I hope people see us as a model that can be replicated,” says Jackson, adding she would love to see similar projects surface elsewhere, including Toronto.

Michael Erickson, who ran last year for Toronto council on a platform that included building a queer youth shelter, says the city must “absolutely” follow in New York’s footsteps.

“It’s shameful,” the high school teacher says about the dearth of LGBT-specific youth services in Toronto. After his run for office in Ward 14 (Parkdale-High Park), various individuals, including shelter workers, youth counsellors, members of the queer community and people who used to be homeless, approached him about his proposal. They have since formed a group aimed at researching and identifying the needs of LGBT homeless youth.

It’s difficult to pinpoint how large this population is. According to a 2003 report, there were about 20,000 homeless youth in Toronto, with 2,000 to 6,000 living on the streets. (Based on American statistics, between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of homeless youth identify as LGBT, while only 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the general population does.)

In Toronto, the 2009 Street Needs Assessment, which provided a single-day snapshot of the city’s homeless population (5,086) showed that 0.4 per cent of respondents self-identified as transgendered; 0.1 per cent as transsexual; and 0.4 per cent identified as “other.”

The city, with its gay-friendly reputation, “is a magnet” for LGBT youth, says Erickson, noting many leave their towns and small cities thinking it will be safer for them here.

“And when they first arrive here, without shelter and without money, they expect a little support that is really barely there.”

Over the past decade, talk of creating a queer-specific shelter has surfaced many times, but past initiatives fizzled quickly. This time, Erickson hopes the group he is a part of will gain real momentum.

One of the main arguments against building a queer-specific shelter is that it further marginalizes LGBT youth. Also, the city says it expects that all of the 57 shelters it operates or funds are accessible to members of the LGBT community and that they work toward improving access to this group.

“A lot of our activism, time and money was focused on marriage equality, which benefits the most privileged gay and lesbian people in our country, at the expense of our most vulnerable LGBTQ people,” Erickson says.

“A lot of people in the gay and lesbian community feel like a lot of the work is done, when things haven’t improved substantially for the most vulnerable youths in our communities.”

Few studies have been done on the issue, says Ilona Alex Abramovich, who is doing a PhD at the University of Toronto on the needs of LGBT homeless youth in Toronto. But what little research there is shows they feel safer on the streets than in regular shelters because of homophobic and transphobic violence.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“They sleep in the park because it’s so unsafe,” says Abramovich, who has interviewed many LGBT homeless youth and hopes to develop a plan of action to improve the shelter system. “Stories (of abuse) range from getting beaten up and raped. They’re targeted because they’re gay.”

Such violence usually goes unreported by the youth, says Abramovich, noting shelter providers are likely unaware of the frequency and severity of the violence and discrimination they face.

“When you have a group of youth who are unsafe, you need to respond. Immediately.”