This piece was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and appears here with permission.
By Megan Henry
Ohio’s only LGBTQ+ adult homeless shelter is opening in Youngstown on March 16.
The Full Spectrum Rainbow House of the Mahoning Valley is opening an eight-bed shelter for adults 18 years and older inside Full Spectrum Community Outreach, Mahoning Valley’s LGBTQ+ resource center.
“A major thing that we’ve noticed is a lot of (LGBTQ) people are unhoused,” said Katie Coriston, Full Spectrum Community Outreach’s operations manager.
“They are couch surfing. They do not have access to go to a local shelter. They are not accepted there. So we had to pretty much tell people how to be safe on the streets, which is a very tough thing to do.”
The idea for the shelter came about eight years ago and Full Spectrum Community Outreach said they were able to make the shelter a reality within the last six months, Coriston said.
“It’s really just accommodating for a lack of resources,” said Nikki Crawford, the shelter manager.
“People across the Northeast Ohio region who identify as LGBTQ cannot get these same resources from many traditional shelters, and if they can get those services, they’re still being misgendered. They’re still not being affirmed in their identity, and they’re not being met where they’re at in our society.”
The shelter will initially be an emergency overnight stay open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. with warm dinners, breakfast bags, and a shower provided, Crawford said. It will be an intake only facility, meaning no walk-ins. The shelter is not taking families, children, or animals at this time.
“Our primary goal is putting a roof over the head of vulnerable people so they have a safe place to sleep at night,” Crawford said.
Full Spectrum’s long-term goal is to provide a 30-day stay and expand the building to have more beds, Crawford said.
“Everyone deserves a warm bed to sleep in at night,” Coriston said. “Everyone deserves food. Everyone deserves to be treated like a human.”
It’s important for Ohio to have a LGBTQ specific homeless shelter, Crawford said.
“We find so many homeless resources across the region are locked behind various forms of requirements that may include financial requirements, identification requirements, but one of the heaviest barriers for our community is religious requirements,” Crawford.
“Many shelters actually find it easier to just have a blanket statement that they don’t accept LGBTQ people in their intake.”
According to a 2020 study conducted by the Williams Institute School of Law at UCLA, 17% of LGBTQ people surveyed said they had experienced homelessness at a point in their life. Of that, 71% said they experienced homelessness for the first time as an adult.
There were 11,759 people experiencing homelessness in Ohio in 2024, according to HUD’s annual Homelessness Assessment Report.
Daphne Carr, an organizer with Mahoning Valley Queer Action, is excited the homeless shelter is opening.
“We’re seeing a huge uptick of impoverished LGBTQ folks,” Carr said. “Many of the shelters that exist … are not affirming in any way whatsoever, and are actively dangerous for folks who are gender non-conforming, for instance. So it is absolutely crucial that we have an affirming shelter system that will allow people to be who they are.”
Carr anticipates the need for the shelter will be high and hopes more LBGTQ shelters open up across Ohio. Full Spectrum has received calls about the shelter from people in Toledo, Cincinnati, Columbus, Kentucky, and New York, Coriston said.
“We’ve had a lot of interest, but we are starting out very small first, so we’re not going to be able to service the whole state of Ohio at this time,” Coriston said. “… We will be prioritizing those within the Mahoning Valley service area.”
Crawford has housed LGBTQ people who have experienced homelessness.
“It’s very close to my heart to provide a standardized source that is affirming to the community and helps with the housing insecurity at all the intersections it faces because it’s just a resource not a lot of people understand how it works,” Crawford said.
Youth LGBTQ housing program closed
Kaleidoscope Youth Center’s Housing Program ended last year after grant funding for the program was not renewed by the Ohio Department of Health.
Kaleidoscope, which serves LGBTQ+ youth ages 12-24 in central Ohio, started the housing program in 2019. Of their 10 housing clients, seven have moved out since September. Kaleidoscope has plans for their final three clients to move out before the end of March, said Svetlana Harlan, a spokesperson for Kaleidoscope.
“Each client is receiving support in moving and in getting set up to live independently,” Harlan said.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine used his veto power to nix a provision in the state’s two-year budget that would have prohibited giving funds to youth homeless shelters that house transgender youth, even if they also serve youth who are not transgender.
Nearly a quarter of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives, according to a 2022 report by the Trevor Project. Those who experiences homelessness or housing instability were also two to four times more likely to report depression, anxiety and self-harm, along with considering or attempting suicide, the report found.
LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- Full Spectrum Rainbow House of the Mahoning Valley’s intake phone number will be 330-203-1094.
Know an LGBTQ+ Ohio story we should cover? TELL US!
Submit a story!
Pingback: Roundup of links for 3 Mar. – gleanings