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[Photo: sfchronicle.com]

According to the most recent census required for federal funding, San Francisco reported a homeless population of 6,436. Of that population, the San Francisco Humane Services Agency (HSA) asked 1000 people about their sexual orientation and 29 percent identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, the SF Chronicle reported.

Gay people make up about 15 percent of the city’s population — and city officials and those who work closely with this homeless knew that LGBTQ people were over represented among the homeless, but these stats were surprising to many, even experts in the field.

With these number being so high, more effort may need to go toward providing the LGBTQ population with special services — like beds set aside for gay people in shelters or social workers assisting with LGBTQ issues — which will help get the gay community off the street, reported the SF Chronicle.

Mary Howe, executive director of the Haight Ashbury Youth Alliance, told the Chronicle that nearly half of the homeless youth she works with are homosexual, and many have been kicked out of their homes after coming out to their families. She said many of them just want to go somewhere where they’re more accepted.

Often times a family member or close friend can help a person in need so they don’t wind up on the street, but if someone has been cut off from all family ties, it can be difficult for them to get back on their feet.



[Photo: thinkprogress.org]

Advocates for the homeless community said LGBTQ people are also overrepresented among the older crowds. Adults over 50 years old (many of them survivors of the AIDS epidemic), may be on the streets because they’ve had their social network decimated by HIV, said Dr. Margot Kushel, an associate professor of medicine at UCSF who is based at San Francisco General Hospital and studies homeless health issues, reported by the SF Chronicle.

For more information on the homeless population in San Francisco, click here: http://goo.gl/tbxAJ

Do you think there’s a need for better services for the LGBTQ homeless population?