POLITICS OF AGENCIES

LGBTQ youth can endure hardship within the very agency trying to help them.

According to Serving Our Youth: Findings from a National Survey of Services Providers Working with LGBT Youth Who Are Homeless or At Risk of Becoming Homeless (2012), out of the agencies surveyed, nearly 98% drop in centers, street outreach programs and housing programs reported that almost 40% of their clients are LGBT oriented yet only 24% of these agencies were specifically designed for LGBT youth. But, the rest have a population of over 40% LGBT youth. 

An umbrella of funding greatly impacts LGBTQ youth. The agencies that are supposed to be supporting them reported that out of 120 agencies, do not receive federal, state, or city funding so they rely on the generosity of private funding which can be very unpredictable further creating an element of instability in the situation of homeless youth (Durso & Gates 2012).  Shortage of funding creates less space for specialized services that directly serve an LGBTQ population.

Apart from lack of funding, there is a shortage in LGBTQ centered agencies. It is crucial to lead LGBTQ homeless youth in the direction of a space that can they can most benefit from.