FY27 DHS Budget Cuts
The Foundation’s Executive Director urges DC Council to restore the youth homeless services budget to at least $24 million in recurring funding, including restoring $1.53 million for permanent supportive (extended transitional) housing and $755,000 for transitional housing.
The Rise of Unhoused LGBTQ+ Youth
With youth LGBTQ+ homelessness rising, the Wanda Alston Foundation prepares to meet the demand.
Testimony In Support of Ms. Rachel Pierre
Cesar Toledo, Executive Director, testified before the DC Council in support of the confirmation of Ms. Rachel Pierre as the Director of the Department of Human Services (DHS).
LGBTQ homelessness on the rise
Based on the Point-In-Time data, year after year, LGBTQ+ youth are devastatingly overrepresented among all youth experiencing homelessness. While the overall decrease in the number of homeless people in D.C. is promising, there has been about a five-point increase among our homeless LGBTQ+ young people – meaning more than one in three homeless youth today identify as LGBTQ+.
In D.C., 28% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+
SMYAL began its housing program for LGBTQ youth in 2017. It was preceded by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation, which opened the city’s first transitional housing program solely dedicated to LGBTQ youth facing homelessness between the ages of 18 and 24 in 2008. As of 2022, the Alston Foundation had opened two more LGBTQ youth homeless facilities.
12% of D.C. homeless adults identify as LGBTQ+
This year’s report also says that for LGBTQ+ youth in the District, there are at least 53 transitional housing units and a rehousing program that serves 20 individuals at a time. Although the report doesn’t identify the LGBTQ youth housing facilities by name, they most likely are operated by the local LGBTQ youth services organization SMYAL and the Wanda Alston Foundation, which also provides housing services for LGBTQ homeless youth.