Jennifer Ho, deputy director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, met with local homeless service providers and advocates April 26 at the Center on Halsted for a conversation on issues facing LGBTQ youth and adults.
The group discussed everything from funding needs to strategies for combating homelessness long-term.
Service providers spoke on the need to expand the definition of "youth" from 21 years of age to 24, an age used by many organizations in Chicago already. Many young people who cannot access mental heath services by the time they reach 21 are at greater risk for homelessness, they said.
Ho said she is interested in focusing on a systemic fix rather than piecemeal revisions to the current system. Ho also wants to focus on adults in addition to youth, many of whom age out of youth programs before they are able to establish residence.
Advocates stressed the need for sustaining different kinds of housing models for homeless people, from transition homes to shelters.
"It's a cafeteria, and we need the tray," said Bonnie Wade, who runs the LGBTQ Host Home Program.
In addition, they asked Ho to think critically about how the federal government judges success of programs that serve homeless people, and they questioned Ho about the government's role in counting homeless people.
Ho said those issues are on her mind, but that she wants to focus on counting sub-groups of homeless people, "mindful that whoever we count there are groups that we don't."
Subgroups could provide a more accurate count, she said, in addition to providing a more specific picture of what services are needed. Counting homeless transgender people, however, will present a challenge, Ho said, because transgender identity can be so fluid.