Homelessness & Housing Instability Among LGBTQ+ Youth
By Frank Pizzoli
Photo courtesy of Andrea Mobley, pictured
In 2021, 28 percent of LGBTQ+ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives—and those who did had two to four times the odds of reporting depression, anxiety, self-harm, considering suicide, and attempting suicide compared to those with stable housing, according to The Trevor Project.
The work of The Trevor Project springs from the powerful intersection of storytelling on stage and film. In 1994, producers Peggy Rajski and Randy Stone saw writer/performer Celeste Lecesne bring to life Trevor, a character they created as part of their award-winning one-man show, Word of Mouth. Convinced Trevor’s story would make a wonderful short film, Stone and Rajski invited Lecesne to adapt it into a screenplay. Rajski directed the movie and Trevor went on to win many prestigious awards including the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.
The Oscar-winning film eventually launched a national movement around homeless LGBTQ+ youth, spurring other organizations toward outreach for this at-risk population. Today we speak with Andrea Mobley, a 26-year-old, cisgendered, female bisexual who has been helped with her homeless struggles by Nashville Launch Pad, a volunteer-based initiative launched in 2014 to provide street-free sleep to displaced young adults 18-24 in Davidson County, Tennessee. Launch Pad also administers an Independent-Supported Living Program and Emergency Shelter. The organization’s work was highlighted by their local NPR affiliate.
Frank Pizzoli: At New Year’s time we look to make resolutions and move forward. You faced homelessness.
Andrea Mobley: I had just turned 18, not long out of high school and not long after the turn of the year in 2016.
FP: What happened that you found yourself homeless?
AM: My adoptive mother and I had got into a fight over a guy I was dating. It was a very difficult time in my relationship with her. Those difficulties began my downward spiral.
FP: Where did you first turn for help?
AM: The first person I asked for help was the guy I was dating even though I lived to regret that because after him, I ended up becoming homeless again. That’s when I sought out mental health counseling and formally asked for help with homelessness.
FP: How did you find the help you needed?
AM: I shared a room with another client of the mental health service I eventually engaged with for help. That roommate told me all about Nashville Launch Pad.
“There are still people in this world that can be trusted if you are looking for the right help.” –Andrea Mobley
FP: When did things start to turn toward the better for you?
AM: I feel like my life got better when I was assisted with getting my own apartment. That was certainly a change for the better, but I was still struggling with mental health issues.
FP: When did you find that all the significant parts of your life finally came together?
AM: When I started working as a caregiver with elderly people and made concrete plans to formally study cosmetology and fashion design.
FP: Tell us about your caregiving. Once Nashville Launch Pad helped you become stable, did you find that focusing on the problems of others helped you find balance?
AM: Worrying about someone else helps me not dwell on myself. Thinking only about myself exacerbates my mental health issues. And figuring out my educational goals helps me stay focused.
FP: What was it or is it about the help you received and continue to receive that makes it valuable to you?
AM: It’s more about the people who helped me and who were there for me then and now. The fact that my life partner Jessica has been through similar challenges means so much.
FP: Please share with readers your closing thoughts.
AM: I would just like to say to anyone that is homeless or has been homeless: Always lift yourself up because one day you won’t be in that darkness. You will come to the light. And that there are still people in this world that can be trusted if you are looking for the right help. Q
Frank Pizzoli is an award-winning journalist whose work appears in The Village Voice (NYC) and Pennsylvania Capital-Star.