FY 2021-22 Transgender Health and Wellness Proposal — Cathedral City City Council, March 9, 2022

Transgender Health and Wellness Center
340 S. Farrell Drive, Suite A208, Palm Springs, Ca. 92262 Ph: (760) 202-4308 & (760) 656-4141 Fax: (760) 818-8025 6700 Indiana Ave, Suite 252, Riverside, Ca. 92506 Ph: (951) 530-8257 Fax (760) 818-8025 6840 Indiana Ave, Suite 150, Riverside, Ca. 92506 (951) 530-8148 Fax (760) 818-8025 3737 Moraga Ave, Suite A204, San Diego, Ca. 92117 (858) 352-6015 Fax (760) 818-8025 www.trans.health

Date: December 1, 2021
We write to propose State funding for an LGBTQ outreach program that will be named GenderBread House. There is a dire need for this service in the Coachella Valley. The latest U.S. Transgender Survey documents that more than one quarter (26%) of the respondents who were homeless in the past year avoided staying in homeless shelters because they feared they would be mistreated as a transgender person. Additionally, 6% were denied access to a shelter, including 4% who were denied due to being transgender.
70% of those who stayed in a shelter in the past year reported some form of mistreatment because of being transgender. More than half (52%) of those who stayed at a shelter in the past year were verbally harassed, physically attacked, and/or sexually assaulted because of being transgender. Nearly 1 in 10 (9%) of the respondents were thrown out once the shelter staff found out that they were transgender, and 44% decided to leave the shelter because of poor treatment or unsafe conditions. 25% decided to dress or present as the wrong gender in order to feel safe in a shelter, and 14% said that the shelter staff forced them to dress or present as the wrong gender in order to stay at a shelter.

It is reported that 17% of the transgender respondents were sexually assaulted in shelters. 19% were physically attacked and 49% verbally harassed.

Although HUD mandates inclusion in shelters, the shelters themselves struggle to maintain safety and order because they have no control over the cultural dynamics. They do not have the necessary resources to ensure the safety of those who are staying in the shelter. This is, in part, due to the volume of those staying there at any given time. i There are an estimated 27,000 transgender individuals within the Inland Empire. The average amount of transgender people in a given area is estimated at 0.6%. Coachella Valley has an estimated 346,000 residents, which translates to an estimated 2,076 transgender residents in the Coachella Valley. This means that there are potentially 326 transgender people in Cathedral City. The 2015 Transgender Health and Wellness Report (page 31, see attached document) states that 1 in 4 (25.6%) transgender residents were forced to have sex against their will by a

partner or someone close to them. It also documents that more than half of the respondents (56.7%) have been physically and/or emotionally abused by a partner or someone close to them.

When kicked out of their homes due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, many Cathedral City LGBTQ+ youth are forced into survival sex work. This home would be available to them as emergency housing--either during the placement in a program or while utilizing the program at the Transgender Health & Wellness Center. ii In a national report, 40% of the homeless youth served by agencies identify as LGBT by with Williams Institute. This program will allow us to help LGBTQ young adults by rapid emergency housing, enabling us to address the structural inequities that they face as a marginalized community. An additional pressing need is Latinx transgender individuals who are living with HIV: a woefully underserved community that warrants particular attention. We are focused on accommodating this marginalized, at-risk population with both proactive and rehabilitative support. As part of this mission, we will provide ESL services for those who are also struggling with English language skills. iii
In our Transgender Survey Report for 2020, we found that 81.65% of the respondents answered yes to “Have you ever thought about committing suicide?” 52.29% of the respondents responded yes to “Have you ever attempted suicide?” (See page 6 of the Transgender Health and Wellness Center Survey Report, attached.) If you add the other statistics in this request, it is clear that respondants are trapped in situations of sexual assault, as well as verbal and physical violence. Such circumstances engender suicidal ideation. There are an estimated 308 transgender residents in Cathedral City that need our help.

We have served 124 transgender residents from the zip codes 92234 and 92235. With an estimated 326 transgender Cathedral City Residents, we are already serving almost 50% of the transgender community in Cathedral City. The need for our services continues to rise. Over the course of the past year (2020 to 2021), the demand for our resources has increased 207%. It is imperative that we are able to meet this need.

We believe what is needed is a safe housing space for LGBTQ young adults and Transgender residents. The support can be either rapid re-housing or an eight-month intensive program to help those who have fallen into homelessness back into the structural models of society. This is accomplished by addressing the systemic barriers that prevent equity in employment, housing, and access to quality healthcare. Such resources are provided on a case-by-case basis because we accept those that celebrate diversity in their own way, and face obstacles that are unique to them.

The GenderBread House will provide long-term equity development and expansion for participants who are housed in the program based on a case-by-case basis. The program will be up to eight months for each participant. This means that between 3 and 6 Cathedral City residents will be in the program per year.

Our Navigator/Outreach Coordinator will have more contact with the community to assist with social services, care, and career development (job placement). We project that, for the first

year a minimum of 24 people will be served. We project that those who are determined for rapid re-housing will be a minimum of 10 to 15 individuals.

This program is for extremely low-income Transgender seniors, veterans, and individuals who have lost their homes due to Covid related circumstances, transphobia, and homophobia. It will also be open for homeless LGBTQ youth in an effort to deter underground economies and human trafficking. The LGBTQ community already faces a high risk of HIV diagnoses. The chances are increased when these marginalized individuals perform survival sex for housing after being kicked out of their homes. iv
Note that these numbers are very conservative because there is currently no model or precedent for us to reference. (Similarly, the Transgender Health & Wellness Center did not have a model, so was forced to work extemporaneously to determine the need.) We will have a better understanding of the hard data in the 2023 request.

We request $60,000, which will subsidize this transitional housing program. Funds will be put toward work on housing and job placement. An additional $15,000 will be devoted to community outreach in Cathedral City. The funds will also go towards the purchase of the first Transgender and LGBTQ young adult rapid re-housing home, the Genderbread House.

The Genderbread House will provide emergency housing for particularly vulnerable marginalized persons--specifically, those who have a particularly high rate of victimization regarding hate crimes, physical assault, verbal abuse, and sexual assault when placed in general shelter situations. In this program, the person shall be re-housed based on resources and government assistance or enter into an Equity Expansion Program (EEP). The EEP meets with the person in crises, determines needs, then helps work as a Trans Navigator through the structural and systemic barriers to help them reach housing, economic, and healthcare equity.

Through this program, we will assist in career development and job placement. We will also endeavor to establish a trust to better equip each person to acquire permanent housing. Each participant will be required to be enrolled in our free mental health program, which provides life coaching. Pepperdine University awarded this program the best place to do internships. To adequately carry out the above mission, we request a total $75,000 for our endeavors and we would be happy to work on placing this historic program in Cathedral City to gain national attention for Cathedral City.

Thomi Clinton, CEO

i https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf

ii https://polarisproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Polaris-2019-US-National-Human-Trafficking-Hotline- Data-Report.pdf

iii https://nationalhomeless.org/issues/lgbt/#:~:text=1%20According%20to%20the%20Williams%20Institute%2C% 2040%25%20of,of%20clients%20utilizing%20housing%20programs%20identified%20as%20LGBT

iv https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/group/sexworkers.html

Cathedral City City CouncilMarch 9, 2022

Cathedral City City Council
March 9, 2022