Center Wants to Raise $25 Million to Provide Housing for LGBT Homeless

The Los Angeles LGBT Center announced a $25 million fundraising campaign today to provide more affordable housing for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths and seniors.

The LGBT Center wants to double the number of beds for homeless youths to 100 and to provide more than 100 units of affordable housing for low-income seniors and young adults, according to Lorri Jean, chief executive of the  LGBT Center.

Up to about 40 percent of 6,000 homeless youths in Los Angeles are LGBT, she said. The center now provides 50 beds for homeless LGBT youths.

"We're turning away kids every day and we have to do more," Jean said.

Affordable housing is the biggest need for LGBT seniors and youths, she said.

"Most of of our LGBT seniors are more poor than anyone realized," Jean said, adding that 20 percent of the LGBT Center's clients that are seniors with incomes below the poverty line.

A new building is planned across the street from the LGBT Center on Schrader Boulevard and will become the new headquarters, Jean said.

So far, donors have pledged $19 million toward the goal. The biggest single gift -- $6.5 million -- came from Anita May Rosenstein, who said she was happy to donate to the center to provide housing for youth and seniors on one campus.

"This isn't just a gift," Rosenstein said. "It's a solid investment in the entire community's future."

--City News Service