A new homeless shelter in New York City reserved exclusively for individuals who identify as transgender opened this week in Long Island City, with a projected cost to taxpayers of $65 million over the next five years.
The shelter, named Ace’s Place, will house up to 150 transgender-identifying individuals and is being billed as the first facility of its kind in the nation. It is operated by Destination Tomorrow, a Bronx-based LGBTQ+ nonprofit. The facility is named after the mother of the group’s founder and CEO, Sean Ebony Coleman.
The opening of the shelter is part of the city’s expanding shelter system, but its cost and exclusivity have drawn scrutiny. The $65 million price tag equates to approximately $86,700 per bed, per year, through 2030.
City Cites Safety, Trauma Concerns
According to city officials, the shelter aims to offer a “trauma-informed” environment specifically tailored to transgender individuals. New York City Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park said the space is intended to help residents “heal and stabilize” in an environment that affirms their gender identity.
“Transgender rights are under attack,” Park said, referencing federal executive orders under President Donald Trump’s administration that restored biological definitions of male and female in federal policy. “This facility reflects our commitment to protecting our most vulnerable communities.”
Park noted that while transgender and “gender non-conforming” individuals can choose to stay in traditional shelters, 30 designated beds across the city had previously been set aside for them. Ace’s Place, however, is the first fully separate facility exclusively for this population.
Shelter Will Offer On-Site Mental Health Services and Activities
The facility will include a full-time psychiatric nurse, social workers, and other on-site services. According to Destination Tomorrow, it will also feature wellness programs including yoga, meditation, and culinary training.
Coleman, the nonprofit’s CEO, said the environment at typical shelters can be detrimental to transgender individuals.
“You’re asking for help and they’re constantly misgendering you and constantly telling you you’re not who you say you are,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to thrive in those conditions.”
Reactions Mixed as Price Tag Raises Eyebrows
While some officials and advocates have praised the shelter as a step toward inclusivity, others have questioned the cost and exclusivity.
Critics have pointed to the nearly $87,000 per bed annual cost as excessive, especially when compared to other shelters in the city that operate at a significantly lower per-bed rate. Concerns have also been raised about the precedent of publicly funded shelters that serve only specific identity groups rather than addressing homelessness more broadly.
City Hall has not released a detailed breakdown of the shelter’s budget, though it has said the funds will cover staffing, programming, and services offered by the nonprofit operator.
The facility opens as New York continues to grapple with a mounting homelessness crisis, with thousands of individuals and families already in the city’s shelter system — and more arriving regularly, including from migrant relocation programs.
Whether Ace’s Place becomes a model for similar shelters elsewhere remains to be seen. For now, the city is pressing ahead with its plans to expand tailored services, even as questions continue about affordability, prioritization, and long-term impact.
READ NEXT: Alleged Leader Of Vegan Transgender Cult Arrested In Maryland
Keristalmighty! There cannot be this many physical transgenders running around! This has all the halmarks of mental illness caused by liberal nonsince and attention seeking malcontents looking for an easy payday and having someone else take care of them becasue they never fully matured into adults. Those adults who are claiming transgender children under the age of 10 are about as wacko as it gets. Kids are kids, they have no idea what transgender is, what sexuality is, what drugs they are forced to take, and what surgery their parents are subjecting them to. In my mind, the latter will cause untold numbers of claimed transgender children who reach puberity to commit sucide than we can imagine. Parents who force their childen to take puberty blockers should not be parents at all, they themselves are nuts. Rarely, like one out of maybe 10,000 children are affected physically at birth with equipment they should not have. In that case a DNA test should be taken to determine if the predominate gender is x or Y, and only then should surgery be considered as a correction. Other than that, leave kids alone and let them grow up. Adults that claim this are only seeking attention, benefits, sympathy, or something that is about as bizarre as a $3 bill.
WHY should it cost that much????????????????????????