Feds to help fund secure LGBTQ youth housing

Canada’s public safety minister announced security funding for a housing project for LGBTQ youth on Friday.

Egale Canada, an organization that fights discrimination against the LGBTQ community, will receive $47,000 from the federal government. The money will go toward security installations for the Egale Centre, transitional housing for LGBTQ youth in Toronto due to open in January 2019.

The funding falls under the federal government’s Security Infrastructure Program, which is meant to improve security for communities at risk of hate crimes.

“People who will be living here and people who will be working here will want to know that they can do so safely and securely,” said Ralph Goodale, the public safety minister.

The centre, at the corner of Dundas and Pembroke Sts., will have 25 transitional housing units, five emergency housing units and counselling for people seeking employment and guidance.

Helen Kennedy, the executive director of Egale Canada, said that the funding would help to protect queer-identified youth.

“Crimes against the LGBT community are the most violent of any hate crimes . . . so these are really big issues for us,” she said.

In 2012, Egale found that 23 per cent of homeless youth were part of the LGBTQ community.

The funding comes days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized to LGBTQ Canadians for decades of “state-sponsored, systematic oppression,” which led to people being arrested, targeted and persecuted because of their sexuality.

The Security Infrastructure Program will invest up to $10 million over the next five years to nonprofit organizations that fit the criteria.