Houston is a city in crisis. The aftereffects of Hurricane Harvey pushed thousands more people onto the streets with nowhere else to turn. Of these individuals, LGBT+ homeless youth face a unique array of challenges in their daily lives where discrimination, rejection, and harassment have undermined the ability for many to find any safe community to coexist peacefully. Trying to address the issues of establishing a sense of community and security in these individuals’ lives proposes us the unique challenge of first, identifying the underlying causes of this rejection and then empowering those at Hatch Youth to be actively involved in their own community building keeping in mind that we want the space to be safe, accessible, and identity-affirming. In order to get the wheels turning and restore a sense of mutual support and self love, we discussed the benefits and disadvantages of focusing on interior spaces vs. community spaces and furnishings vs. personalized decor.

We have ample resources to turn to for help with organization and our approach to this problem space. On Rice’s campus the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexualilty, Q&A, the Women’s Resource Center, as well as the Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities may be at our disposal to consult with as we navigate this sensitive topic. Within the Houston community, the Montrose Center as well as Hatch Youth and other LGBT+ shelters have the most hands on experience and will serve as great resources as we continue redefining our problem space and how can we statements. A few of our questions approaching this broader problem space are:

• How can we make the apartments for the homeless LGBT+ youths more welcoming?
• How can we establish a sense of community, comfort, and security for homeless LGBT+ youths?
• How can we implement a sustainable system that can be repeated?
• How can we establish partnerships to help the Montrose Center?