True Colors United: 2023 Annual Count by HUD Shows 28% Increase in Homelessness Among Transgender Youth

WASHINGTON, December 15, 2023 (Newswire.com) - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the 2023 Point-in-Time Count, showing a 15 percent increase in homelessness among youth and young adults since 2022. Notably, homelessness among transgender and gender non-conforming youth increased by 28 percent from 2022 to 2023, nearly twice that of the overall youth and young adult population. Trans and gender non-conforming youth accounted for 5 percent of the total number of youth and young adults counted for the 2023 report, and the number of transgender and gender nonconforming youth experiencing homelessness has increased each year since HUD began collecting and reporting that data.

Dylan Waguespack (he/they), CEO of True Colors United, said:

“This dramatic increase in homelessness among trans and gender non-conforming young people is impossible to separate from the toxic and violent culture war waged by radical conservatives in the media and our political system. Young people and their families are living through a political era marked by inescapable, dehumanizing rhetoric about transgender youth. It shouldn’t surprise us that one of the results of this escalating campaign to eliminate trans people from public life is the erosion of safety and housing security among trans young people.

“All young people, regardless of gender identity, are especially vulnerable to economic insecurity. For the past three years, youth and young adults have been offered limited support as they enter a volatile labor market destabilized by the COVID-19 pandemic. The homelessness response system as it’s currently resourced cannot possibly match the challenges of the rising cost of living and the crisis of the affordable housing shortage. Add in the discrimination that transgender people face in accessing housing and employment, and the picture becomes even more dire.

“Our leaders have a responsibility to make necessary investments to end the affordable housing crisis and uplift the humanity of transgender youth, and all of us have a responsibility to demand trans youth’s guarantee to the basic human rights of safety, housing, and health care. Continuing to allow this crisis to escalate is unthinkable.”

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About True Colors United: True Colors United was co-founded in 2008 by Cyndi Lauper. We implement innovative solutions to youth homelessness that focus on the unique experiences of LGBTQ+ young people. Through a broad array of training and education, youth action, technical assistance, and advocacy programs, True Colors United is creating a world where all young people can be their true selves. www.truecolorsunited.org

Source: True Colors United