Pride flag, Progressive Pride flag, and the Transgender Flag. Photo/Gretchen Lembcke Peña
Washington Heights, NY— Portraits, crystals, encouraging messages and pride flags hang on the walls. In the background you can hear music from Lady Gaga or the latest pop hit of the week. The smell of food emanates from the kitchen and seasonings like adobo, Maggi cubes, and Tajín are lined up on the counter waiting to be used. You feel community and acceptance in a new space. This is what Margarita Hernández experienced when she came looking for help at La Sala, a drop-in center in Washington Heights.
A drop-in center is a place that provides temporary services, such as accommodations, food, mental health exercises, among others, for people who are in situations with a risk of physical or mental health. La Sala is managed by the Dominican Women's Development Center, a nonprofit organization that helps people without homes with resources such as housing and job referrals, food, showers, clothing and HIV testing.
Drop-in centers like La Sala are popular among young people from the LGBTQ community who represent a high percentage of people without homes in the United States, according to a report from The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping queer youth in the United States.
Programs like this are especially important in New York due to the shortage of drop-in centers and shelters specifically for the LGBTQ+ community. In New York City there are only six shelters and drop-in centers with services specifically for the queer community, according to the Department of Probation.
Hernández began using drugs at the age of 10, when she immigrated from Colombia to New York in 1996. She explains that they helped her deal with her mental illnesses and ongoing sexual abuse by a family member. After being admitted to several rehabilitation centers, she was married for seven years. When she separated from her wife in 2020, she no longer had a home.
Hernández then went to the municipal shelters and quickly realized that services for mental health, accessibility for people with disabilities, and hygiene were scarce in those shelters. According to the most recent survey conducted by the City Comptroller's Office, 40% of homeless Latino people identify as LGBTQ+ in New York.
When she found the La Sala program, Hernández was finally able to leave the shelter system. After a period of life-threatening substance abuse, she turned to La Sala director Elizabeth Javier, who helped her get the assistance she needed to begin detox and eventually obtain a stable home.
“I took about 50 pills because I was not feeling well and I drank alcohol. I called Liz [Javier] and said, 'Listen, I just took some pills, I don't feel good,'" Hernandez said. “She answered, ‘Call the ambulance, call 911,’ and I threw up all the pills on the way to the hospital.”
Due to situations like Hernández's, La Sala emerges as a response.
Kelvin Castellanos (above) and Demi Figueroa (below) are interns at La Sala and they say it is their safe space. Photo/Gretchen Lembcke Peña
Dianeldis Disla, program coordinator, has been working under the Dominican Women’s Development Center since it started in 2017. “La Sala is the only LGBTQ+ drop-in center in Washington Heights,” Disla said. “I really feel like it's different [from other drop-in centers] because it's more geared toward holistic health. It's about family. When you walk in, it really feels like a living room.”
A 2020 report from New York City's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance found that 60% of the city's 80 shelters pose significant health and safety risks, such as mold, rodent droppings and insects. This year the New York State Controller told Fortune magazine that these conditions continue to worsen despite required annual inspections. In 2021, there was a 58% increase in deaths in the city's shelters compared to 2019.
In addition to health conditions, physical violence and safety threats are very common in municipal shelters, according to a Spectrum News NY1 video report from 2022. El Deadline reached out to Neha Sharma, spokesperson for the city's Department of Social Services, and did not receive a response.
During her time being homeless, Hernandez said she struggled with bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, anemia and diabetes. She believes the shelter system is missing key resources to help its residents, such as accessibility for people with disabilities and, based on her personal experience, mental health services.
“There are people who are missing a leg, people with anemia or asthma… it's not just one thing. Everything is connected to the human body,” she said.
“When I started [working] at this organization, I did it because youth homelessness was extreme and Latinos are the first to kick their kids out because they are gay,” said Javier, the director of La Sala in an interview with PIX 11 in June. “Here you can get some clothes, you can shower, eat, and if you need to take a nap, you can do that too,” Javier said.
People like Brandom Herrera, 23, have been able to receive services at the center so they don't lose their home due to financial problems. Although he has a home, he and his family have been on the verge of eviction, with a housing debt of almost $30,000. He was referred to La Sala after his family tried to get help through another nonprofit organization.
Herrera, who identifies as bisexual, said he was bullied and excluded at school and at home during his childhood due to his sexuality. He said he had been traumatized after suffering domestic violence from his father. His mother helped him find the La Sala program in 2021 and there he found the community he says he needed.
“Coming to La Sala has calmed me down,” said Herrera, who now works as an intern in the program. “Since I arrived at La Sala I have felt more optimistic, and my mother also feels more optimistic.”
Members during music therapy activity. Photo/Gretchen Lembcke Peña
