New York City spends $65 million on shelter for trans people

New York City - along with Destination Tomorrow, an LGBT organization - announced the opening of Ace's Place, a new transgender shelter that will operate with direct and full funding from the city. According to a statement from the organization:

Located in Long Island City, Queens, the center was touted as one of the first of its kind in the nation. According to local officials, the project will have 150 beds and will cost taxpayers approximately $65 million through 2030, representing an annual expenditure of nearly $86,700 per bed.

The New York Department of Social Services (DSS) and Destination Tomorrow today announced the opening of Ace's Place, the first city-funded shelter in the country dedicated to serving and supporting transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people experiencing homelessness.

Destination Tomorrow is managing the facility. Its founder and director, Sean Ebony Coleman, who identifies as trans, stated that Ace's Place is a "community-driven response to systemic neglect" and described it as a space where, in his words, trans people "will no longer be pushed to the margins." The place is named after his mother, whose nickname was "Ace."

Services and creation of the center

The compound will offer individual and group counseling, planning for permanent housing, medical and mental health referrals, support groups, life-skills workshops, financial education and job assistance. It will also feature a culinary arts program in a work-study mode.

In addition, the shelter will have a full-time psychiatric nurse and social workers. Destination Tomorrow will incorporate activities of what they call "holistic wellness" such as yoga and meditation.

The creation of this center is set against a legal backdrop due to litigation. In 2021, New York settled a lawsuit with Mariah Lopez, a trans woman who reported discrimination in city shelters. As part of the settlement, the local government agreed to reserve a minimum of 30 beds for transgender people in different districts. However, prior to the opening of Ace's Place there were already 40 beds reserved, and with this project the total number rises to 190 exclusive spaces.

Various reactions

Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park defended the project as a space that she said would provide stability and safety for those who identify as trans.

For many critics, however, New York's million-dollar spending reflects the priorities of a liberal local administration that insists on funneling resources into ideological projects while the city faces serious problems with safety, immigration and the homeless population.

For example, New York Council Minority Leader Joann Ariola criticized the new multibillion-dollar project in remarks to the New York Post:

All New Yorkers should feel safe in our shelter system. But instead of fixing the system for everyone, the city is spending $63 million to build a separate facility based on gender identity (...)That money should have gone to hire more police officers and social workers to make all of our facilities safer (...) Instead, we're further segregating the homeless system and ignoring very real problems in favor of progressive political theater.