The Damien Center is using grant money to provide housing help to those among the city's most vulnerable homeless populations.

The center in April began receiving $87,000 in grants to serve the transgender homeless. The money, primarily from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development but also from the MAC AIDS Fund and the MIBOR Realtor Association, will provide financial aid to cover application fees, deposits and rent and will connect people with a host of other social services.

In the two months since the grant was awarded, nine people have been connected to the program and three have received aid, said Lo Ray, the Damien Center's rapid rehousing case manager.

"So three and about two months in," Ray said, "it feels pretty good that we're making some moves."

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But the rapid rehousing grant doesn't exist only to find a short-term solution. Ray's job is to help connect clients with other services, such as employment and medical care, to help ensure they have the resources to be successful before they sign a lease.

The rate at which individuals have been referred to the program, which is largely advertised by word-of-mouth, is an indication that the need is there.

Homelessness is at a five-year low in Indianapolis, according to an annual snapshot count of the city's homeless population. The point-in-time count, taken on the evening of Jan. 30, counted 1,567 people experiencing homelessness, sheltered and unsheltered.

Among those counted by outreach teams that night were seven individuals who identified as transgender. In a November census of the city's homeless and unaccompanied youths and young adults, 25% of those counted identified as LGBTQ.

There are a host of factors that affect trans homelessness, including unemployment, violence and lack of support and stability from their families, Ray said.

"Trans people often engage in high-risk behaviors because of the lack of support of their lives," Ray said. "So we see that play a role in entering the criminal justice system and the racial disparities that come into play when they're entering that, as well."

Trans people of color are twice as likely to be arrested as their white counterparts. Violent crime also disproportionately affects trans women of color. Of the five trans people who have been killed in the U.S. this year, all have been black trans women, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Lack of accommodations keeps trans individuals out of shelters, said Alan Witchey, CEO of The Damien Center. If they do go into a shelter, they are unlikely to volunteer information about their identity for fear of risking their safety.

"If somebody is born a male or they're in transition and they identify as female and they dress as female, you cannot put them in a men's shelter and not expect them to get assaulted," Witchey said. "And vice versa."

That contributes to a cycle of chronic homelessness.

"Homelessness in itself is so traumatizing and so complicated," he said. "So, adding to that, that within the sheltering system, you can experience a much greater level of trauma."

Trinity Haven, the state’s first transitional housing for homeless LGBTQ youth, opens in the Mapleton Fall Creek area this summer, providing a safe space for those in need to seek help.

But there's still work to be done, Ray said, and that requires input from service providers and city officials to address issues such as poverty and unemployment and criminal justice.

That willingness to have difficult discussions and to be open to other perspectives can lead to a more inclusive Indianapolis, Ray said.

"Keeping an open mind and an open heart to other realities, other worlds that are within our own world. I think just keeping that compassion, open mindset can do a lot," Ray said. "People don't often expect that. Especially for trans people, who have been rejected so many times, it can feel really good and brand new to be treated like a human being."

For more information about The Damien Center and the services it provides, visit damien.org.

Call IndyStar reporter Holly Hays at 317-444-6156. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays.