LGBTQ Youth Homelessness Hits Staggering Highs in NYC

NYC numbers warn of a hidden national crisis

Photo by Mallivan licensed from Adobe Stock

Homelessness among LGBTQ youth is a growing, largely hidden national crisis. While the Trump administration worked to suppress data collection and reporting, the population of homeless LGBTQ kids in the U.S. continued to swell. A new report from New York City contains shocking numbers that represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Efforts to count LGBTQ homeless teens continue despite the Trump administration

In 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stopped requiring states and contracting agencies to count the homeless LGBTQ youth they serve. HHS scrubbed references to sexual orientation and gender identity from Internet resources. Their main youth homelessness page contains zero references to LGBTQ teens even though such teens make up a hugely disproportionate number of all homeless youth in the U.S.

LGBTQ youth advocates shouted the alarm, telling the Trump administration that agencies can’t effectively help vulnerable teens if they don’t understand the scope of the problem.

But despite the federal government turning a blind eye, some states and cities have continued to collect data. One new survey is so…