(no subject)
VICTORY FOR QEJ AND HOMELESS DOMESTIC PARTNERS
Queers for Economic Justice is pleased to announce that due to the hard work of many
community members and organizations, and the support of the New York City Council,
the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) has finally changed its domestic partner
policy.
DHS will no longer continue to discriminate against domestic partners seeking family
shelter. Domestic partners will no longer have to provide extra documentation
(burdensome proof which is not required of married couples), in order to be
sheltered together as a family.
As of February 1st, homeless couples who have registered with the City Clerk as
domestic partners will be sheltered as families in the same way as married couples.
This policy will apply to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. So a homeless
domestic partner couple who seeks shelter need only present their domestic
partnership certificate in order to be considered a family by DHS for the purpose of
securing shelter. In addition, the new policy grants "family status" to homeless
adults who have other family relationships (e.g., grandparent and grandson/daughter,
or siblings) who have resided together for six of the previous 12 months, and to
street homeless couples who are assisted by an outreach worker.
Currently this is a six-month pilot program, but it is our hope and expectation that
this policy will be made permanent at the end of the trial period. During this
time, we will need to monitor how the pilot program is going. In particular, we
want to pay attention to couples who cannot get domestic partnership certificates,
to make sure that they will still have available to them the options that existed
before this pilot program.
This victory came after over two years of hard work by Queers for Economic Justice,
working hand-in-hand with a coalition consisting of QEJ Network members
the Coalition for the Homeless
the LGBT Community Center
and the Peter Cicchino Youth Project.
QEJ would like to thank all those individuals and organizations who supported us
over the these two years, and those that worked hard during the holiday season to
put pressure on DHS to change this unfair policy.
A special thanks goes out to other QEJ Network members -- the Ali Forney Center, the
Audre Lorde Project, Bronx Community Pride Center, Bronx Defenders, Empire State
Pride Agenda, FIERCE!, Gay Men of African Descent, Gay Men?s Health Crisis, Greater
Voices coalition, Hetrick Martin Institute, Interfaith Taskforce on LGBTQ Homeless
Youth, Lambda Legal, LeGAL, New York City AIDS Housing Network, Planned Parenthood,
Pride At Work, Queens Pride House, SAGE/Queens, Street Work, Sylvia Rivera Law
Project and Sylvia?s Place. These groups worked with our coalition over the past
two years, and/or attended the December press conference (organized by the LGBT
Community Center) and helped collect signatures.
In addition, thanks to all of the thousands of people who collected signatures,
signed postcards, forwarded the email or signed the petition online. It was because
of this community collaboration that we won the victory.
New York City Council Speaker Quinn and the City Council were also instrumental in
changing this policy, and have also committed to making sure that this type of
policy does not get written again in any social service agency. Thank you to Speaker
Quinn and to City Council for their continued support for equal treatment for
domestic partners by all agencies in this city.
Queers for Economic Justice is pleased to announce that due to the hard work of many
community members and organizations, and the support of the New York City Council,
the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) has finally changed its domestic partner
policy.
DHS will no longer continue to discriminate against domestic partners seeking family
shelter. Domestic partners will no longer have to provide extra documentation
(burdensome proof which is not required of married couples), in order to be
sheltered together as a family.
As of February 1st, homeless couples who have registered with the City Clerk as
domestic partners will be sheltered as families in the same way as married couples.
This policy will apply to both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. So a homeless
domestic partner couple who seeks shelter need only present their domestic
partnership certificate in order to be considered a family by DHS for the purpose of
securing shelter. In addition, the new policy grants "family status" to homeless
adults who have other family relationships (e.g., grandparent and grandson/daughter,
or siblings) who have resided together for six of the previous 12 months, and to
street homeless couples who are assisted by an outreach worker.
Currently this is a six-month pilot program, but it is our hope and expectation that
this policy will be made permanent at the end of the trial period. During this
time, we will need to monitor how the pilot program is going. In particular, we
want to pay attention to couples who cannot get domestic partnership certificates,
to make sure that they will still have available to them the options that existed
before this pilot program.
This victory came after over two years of hard work by Queers for Economic Justice,
working hand-in-hand with a coalition consisting of QEJ Network members
the Coalition for the Homeless
the LGBT Community Center
and the Peter Cicchino Youth Project.
QEJ would like to thank all those individuals and organizations who supported us
over the these two years, and those that worked hard during the holiday season to
put pressure on DHS to change this unfair policy.
A special thanks goes out to other QEJ Network members -- the Ali Forney Center, the
Audre Lorde Project, Bronx Community Pride Center, Bronx Defenders, Empire State
Pride Agenda, FIERCE!, Gay Men of African Descent, Gay Men?s Health Crisis, Greater
Voices coalition, Hetrick Martin Institute, Interfaith Taskforce on LGBTQ Homeless
Youth, Lambda Legal, LeGAL, New York City AIDS Housing Network, Planned Parenthood,
Pride At Work, Queens Pride House, SAGE/Queens, Street Work, Sylvia Rivera Law
Project and Sylvia?s Place. These groups worked with our coalition over the past
two years, and/or attended the December press conference (organized by the LGBT
Community Center) and helped collect signatures.
In addition, thanks to all of the thousands of people who collected signatures,
signed postcards, forwarded the email or signed the petition online. It was because
of this community collaboration that we won the victory.
New York City Council Speaker Quinn and the City Council were also instrumental in
changing this policy, and have also committed to making sure that this type of
policy does not get written again in any social service agency. Thank you to Speaker
Quinn and to City Council for their continued support for equal treatment for
domestic partners by all agencies in this city.