YOUTH
Council Votes to Shelter Youth Up to 24 Ending intransigence, sources say de Blasio embraces reform pushed by advocates BY PAUL SCHINDLER
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y unanimous votes on March 7, the City Council approved three measures aimed at strengthening shelter options for homeless youth in New York, including a long contested move to raise the age limit for eligibility in youth shelters to include those 21 to 24 years old. The State Legislature last year authorized localities to provide youth-specific shelter to such young adults, but to date the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) had publicly resisted that expansion, citing cost and the complexity of contracting with qualified service providers. This week’s Council vote indicates its ability to override any potential veto by Mayor Bill de Blasio, but three sources with direct knowledge of conversations with the administration on the matter told Gay City News that both the mayor and DYCD now support the expansion of youth shelter to those 21 to 24 and could be ready to implement it by next January. Neither de Blasio’s office nor DYCD, however, responded to several requests in recent weeks to clarify their position on the legislation. The Council action on March 7 involved three separate measures. Intro 410-A, sponsored by Speaker Corey Johnson of Chelsea, requires DYCD to develop a plan for housing all runaway and homeless youth (RHY) and to report annually on their status. In a written statement, Johnson said of his measure, “There are few crises more heartbreaking than that of youth homelessness. Sadly, this is a crisis that disproportionately impacts the LGBTQ community, of which I am a proud member. We must do everything we can to help all of our young people… Every young person who needs shelter deserves access to youth-specific services and this plan will set the framework for getting us there.”
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GAY CIT Y NEWS
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Ali Forney Center executive director Carl Siciliano at a late 2015 press event.
Bronx Councilmember Vanessa Gibson sponsored Intro 490-A that extends the duration that RHY can spend in emergency housing, from 30 to 60 days in crisis centers and from 18 to 24 months in transitional independent living facilities. “By extending shelter time limits, we are giving runaway and homeless youth much needed stability and providing them with an opportunity to make the good and healthy choices that will keep them on the pathway to success,” Gibson said in a written statement. “These are young people who are alone, abandoned, and often fleeing abusive situations at home. It is our fundamental responsibility to remove every barrier to young people’s success.” Out gay Bronx Councilmember Ritchie Torres was the sponsor of Intro 556-A, which requires DYCD to implement shelter services for young adults 21 to 24. The agen-
cy’s current programs require young people to leave its facilities by the time of their 21st birthday. “I’m convinced that expanding the safety net of shelter to those in greatest need from 21 to 24 years old will have a real impact in saving lives,” Torres said, in a written statement. “Homelessness leaves runaway youth vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, contact with the criminal justice system, STDs and, worst of all, suicide.” Advocates for homeless youth hailed the Council action as muchneeded relief in their efforts to address the city’s RHY crisis. “I am overjoyed by the passage of the RHY bills, and am especially jubilant by the passage of the bill to raise the age,” Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of the Ali Forney Center, which serves homeless LGBTQ youth, said in an email message. “I have been calling for this for 20 years,
since Ali Forney was murdered at the age of 22. Raising the age will greatly reduce the suffering of homeless LGBT young people on our city’s streets; it will save lives. I am profoundly grateful to Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Member Ritchie Torres for their compassionate leadership in sponsoring the bill. I am also deeply grateful for the many members of our LGBT community who joined us in advocating for this, and am especially grateful for the many young people who had the courage to advocate for one another.” Jamie Powlovich, executive director of the Coalition for Homeless Youth, in an emailed statement to Gay City News, said, “Today’s unanimous vote in favor of three City Council bills that will drastically impact the lives of homeless young people in NYC is groundbreaking. CHY applauds Speaker
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SHELTERING YOUTH, continued on p.7
March 15 – 28, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc