SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — Members of the LGBTQ+ community in Shelby County have a new transitional housing option.
Late Friday morning, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris's administration announced a nearly $200,000 investment in partnership with "My Sistah's House," an organization that provides emergency housing and assistance for the LGTBQ+ community.
Organizers like the executive director and founder of My Sistah's House Kayla Gore said the Black trans community experiences homelessness at a higher rate than most of the country.
"There's a lot that's going on in state of Tennessee in regards to the transgender community and anti-trans legislation and bills and laws, so having the mayor step out and pick a side — and that's the trans side — means a whole lot, not just to the people that we serve, but the trans youth who are under attack constantly in the state of Tennessee," Gore said.
In 2018, the National LGBTQ Task Force found more than 40 percent of black trans people in Memphis lived without housing at some point. This five times higher than the rest of the country.