‘It’s a slap in the face’ that KC hasn’t funded agency to shelter LGBTQ homeless

Kansas City officials have repeatedly over the last year said they are making services for our city’s homeless community a priority. So why is it that when an agency seeking help to shelter homeless LGBTQ people requested funding, it was denied, three times?

Maybe there’s some valid, unstated reason for denying funding. But if there is some legitimate reason, then officials should explain what that might be, and they have not.

Last week, Starzette Palmer, founder of Our Spot KC, a nonprofit providing transitional and emergency housing exclusively for homeless LGBTQ people, pleaded for the Kansas City housing committee to help fund efforts to create more space for homeless LGBTQ individuals.

“We are not being funded, and I’m just asking you to do better,” said Palmer, a gay woman who as a young adult was homeless in Kansas City and experienced discrimination “because of how I look and who I loved.”

The homeless population includes all demographics. For the LGBTQ the streets can be especially dangerous, particularly those who are transgender. Kansas City saw an uptick in violence against Black transgender people in 2019.

Palmer has asked for $887,300 of the $15 million in HUD money dispensed by the city, primarily to support homeless prevention, services and housing initiatives, in accordance with the National Affordable Housing Act.

City officials have failed to give Palmer a reason why her agency keeps getting turned down. “It’s a slap in the face to the people out here trying to do the work and to the community at large. This is telling me that there is a disconnect with the folks at the table making the decisions and the poor folks in our community who need these services.”

City officials said they couldn’t tell us why Palmer has been denied funding, either, because the grant process is ongoing and it wouldn’t be fair to other applicants.

But equal access is a requirement of any federally funded program. The denial of Palmer’s request for money had nothing to do with discrimination, officials said.

Good to know, but what does it have to do with, then?

“Any statement that the city has not been supporting housing for the LGBTQ community is inaccurate,” said Chris Hernandez, spokesman for City Manager Brian Platt’s Office. Which would be more convincing if officials came out and said what in their view is going on.

Kansas City received a perfect score last year from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Municipal Equality Index for its nondiscrimination laws, services and policies affecting members of the LGBTQ community.

City officials referred to a list of efforts the city manager’s office has worked on with the LGBTQ+ Commission and City Council to achieve LGBTQ equity wins, including passage of an ordinance protecting LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy practices, enacting an all-gender restroom facility policy, support of LGBTQ businesses and the creation of the commission itself.

But the city should add to its record by funding more shelter for Kansas City’s homeless LGBTQ people. The health and safety of those individuals depends on it, said Blaine Proctor, CEO at SAVE, Inc., which can house up to 20 at its shelter for LGBTQ youth and is at capacity. “We really don’t even scratch the surface,” Proctor said.

Reluctant to stay at shelters with religious affiliation

Palmer started Our Spot KC in 2016 “out of frustration,” she said, because “25% of (more than 2,000) homeless in Kansas City identify as LGBTQ” and they struggle to find shelters that are accepting and safe.

The agency has about 30 beds available for people 18 to 24 years old and needs funding to provide space for an increasing number of older LGBTQ adults with families. Palmer said clients often say they first sought help at other shelters in the city but “were kicked out based on bias.”

She said many of the shelters in the city have a religious affiliation and “we don’t feel safe at those places.”

The city’s LGBTQ Commission has asked city staff to reconsider giving a portion of homeless funding to Our Spot KC. The city manager has said he’ll meet with Our Spot KC this month. The housing committee is expected to vote on funding recommendations this month before the matter goes to the full council.

After a homeless person died in a fire while huddling beneath a Kansas City overpass during freezing temperatures in January, city officials said “addressing housing insecurity and providing resources to the houseless community remains a top priority.”

Again, the homeless community is incredibly diverse, and their needs aren’t all the same. If the city is sincere that “providing resources” to the homeless is a “top priority,” then its funding grants must include agencies like Our Spot KC.

And if the only thing in the way of that happening is an incomplete funding proposal, city staff should tell Our Spot where the problems are so it can get help drafting a better application.