Posted on November 8, 2015 by Victoria Bekiempis in Newsweek Newsweek, By Victoria Bekiempis Amid widespread discussion of New York City’s homelessness crisis that has pulled down Mayor Bill de Blasio’s approval ratings, according to polls, an ongoing lawsuit seeks to overhaul the city’s policies governing a particularly vulnerable demographic of this population—homeless youth. Several recent reports have brought attention to the perils faced by homeless youth. In one study, authors discussed data indicating that some 25 percent have traded sex for shelter—and that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth were seven times more likely to have engaged in “survival sex.” Another Urban Institute study, “Locked In: Interactions With the Criminal Justice and Child Welfare Systems for LGBTQ Youth, YMSM, and YWSW Who Engage in Survival Sex,” found that 71 percent of the youth surveyed had dealt with some sort of “run-in” with cops. Most of these run-ins involved some aspect of stop, question and frisk.
