HUD Celebrates June as LGBT Pride Month

On June 30, the New York Regional Office tuned into the Headquarters webcast panel discussion on "Opening Doors To End LGBT Homelessness," in celebration of June as LGBT Pride Month.

In June 2010, the Administration released Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness (Opening Doors), in which HUD and its Federal partners set goals to end veteran and chronic homelessness by 2015, and end family and youth homelessness by 2020. The LGBT Community faces a unique subset of challenges when it comes to housing. The event focused on these challenges and highlighted the work being done to address them.

The program began with a welcome address by Jennifer Ho, Senior Advisor to Secretary Shaun Donovan, followed by a panel discussion that examined the challenges unique to LGBT youth experiencing homelessness, how HUD expects homeless services providers to ensure equal access to housing regardless of gender identify or sexual orientation, and the hurdles faced by LGBT elders in securing housing free from discrimination. One statistic that was presented and poses a severe challenge to government and advocacy groups is the fact that 40 percent of all homeless youth are part of the LGBT community.

Panelists included Ann Oliva, Director of HUD's Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs; Gregory Lewis, Executive Director of the True Colors Fund; Andrew Barnett, Executive Director of the DC Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL); and, Aaron Tax, Director of Federal Government Relations, Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE). In addition to New York, the San Francisco Regional Office participated in the webcast.

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