Philly LGBTQ activists reflect on Kenney administration, look ahead to the future

Max Ray-Riek, a member of ACT UP, noted the disproportionate rates of LGBTQ homeless populations.

“Every week, we talk to someone who is LGBTQ and doesn’t feel safe in the shelter system and is trying their very best to get services from the city,” Ray-Riek said. “But in order to be eligible for housing services, you pretty much have to be homeless and they define that as living in [the Office of Homeless Services] shelters or somewhere uninhabitable by humans.”

“So if you are finding someone to stay with, you’re not ‘homeless’ anymore,” Ray-Riek said, adding that LGBTQ people often have “chosen families” they will live with as a temporary housing measure — effectively shutting them out of homeless services.

Read the full article here: https://www.penncapital-star.com/civil-rights-social-justice/philly-lgbtq-activists-reflect-on-kenney-administration-look-ahead-to-the-future/