From The Washington Post: Covenant House opening new low-barrier shelter for LGBTQ youths

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SHINE Program Director, Taylor Chandler Walker, left, Chief Operating Officer Lauren Puryear, and human resources director Darren Cook at the new, low-barrier shelter for LGBTQ young people in the Deanwood neighborhood of D.C. (Ash Rahimi/Covenant House )

By Casey Parks

Covenant House, a nonprofit group with locations across the country, will open a new, low-barrier shelter for LGBTQ young people Friday afternoon in the Deanwood neighborhood of Northeast Washington.

Leaders at Covenant House Greater Washington said they began planning for the shelter this month as early results came in for the Youth Count, an annual survey of homeless young people. Nearly 40 percent of homeless youths in D.C. identify as LGBTQ, and 13 percent identify as transgender.

“There is a need in the District,” program director Taylor Chandler Walker said. “There are so many LGBTQIA youth who are homeless. It just shouldn’t be that way, but right now the District is committed to making sure they fill the void.”

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