Public Meeting on Housing Experiences of LGBTQ Youth to Be Held May 4

Recent research conducted by two Syracuse University faculty members, working collaboratively with community agencies, indicates the most important issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer-identified (LGBTQ) youth in the Central New York (CNY) community are bullying, family acceptance, self-acceptance and having to leave home. Additionally, the two issues believed to most likely put LGBTQ youth at risk of homelessness are parental physical or emotional abuse and being forced to leave home because of LGBTQ identity.

LGBTQ youth are often at risk of becoming homeless because of parental physical or emotional abuse or being forced to leave home because of being LGBTQ.

The study’s complete findings will be shared at a public meeting on the housing experiences of LGBTQ youth from the CNY community on Monday, May 4, at 3:30 p.m. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held at Peck Hall, 601 E. Genesee St. Free parking is available.

The research project entitled, “Housing and LGBTQ Youth: A Mixed-Methods Community Needs Assessment,” is led by Falk College principal investigators Deb Coolhart, assistant professor of marriage and family therapy, and Maria Brown, Hartford Doctoral Fellow in Geriatric Social Work, assistant research professor at the Aging Studies Institute.

In addition to understanding the experiences of CNY runaway and homeless LGBTQ youth, the investigators assessed the understanding of homeless LGBTQ youth among local service providers and identified existing services, gaps and barriers affecting runaway and homeless LGBTQ youth. Interviews indicate many youth often have negative experiences in the shelter system and sometimes engage in dangerous activities to avoid using them. Surveyed LGBTQ youth and service providers feel there is a need for LGBTQ-specific shelters or safe and stable housing beyond shelters.

During the summer of 2013, the Syracuse/Onondaga County Youth Bureau contacted the Falk College Research Center about homelessness among LGBTQ youth. To date, available research on homeless LGBTQ youth has been done in large cities, providing little information about the unique experiences and needs of homeless LGBTQ youth elsewhere. The project received seed grant funding from Falk College and includes collaboration with ACR Health Youth Services and the Q Center, the Syracuse/Onondaga County Youth Bureau and the Salvation Army.

Findings from this study will result in several published manuscripts and provide data to Q Home agencies for applications to fund services for homeless LGBTQ youth. For more information about the event and the research project, contact Coolhart, dcoole@syr.edu, or Brown, mbrown08@syr.edu. To RSVP, go here.