New York City, with homelessness mega-problems, is legally required to provide shelter for those homeless within its boundaries1. But shelter them and keep them safe? That’s a tall order that shelters in NYC as well as around the world generally pretend is not a significant problem.
Claiming that shelters offer physical safety is one way of fobbing off aspirations that nations offer adequate housing to all its citizens. Who needs private housing when homeless dormitory warehousing will do?
But it won’t do, as outreach workers know. The most vulnerable homeless — a significant percentage of potential shelter clients — avoid shelters, fearing for their physical health, if not their lives.
Which is why a relentless legal campaign, which was led by one self-taught lawyer on behalf of trans people, is such an important step forward. If this legal torch helps to shed light on violence in shelters, it will benefit trans people who are homeless. It might also spark dialog and action about the violence suffered by all manner of shelter clients.
Read more in the gothamist: NYC Must Provide Separate Housing For Trans People In Homeless Shelters Under New Settlement
Footnotes
- See this article from the Coalition for the Homeless, which is the court appointed monitor of homelessness in New York City, about the right to shelter: Today’s Read: Behind New York’s Right to Shelter Policy
