Queer LifeSpace Needs Our Help After Sudden and Unjust Eviction
The award-winning nonprofit counseling agency Queer LifeSpace is need of community support after urgent threat of eviction by property owners.
This recent eviction threat could have serious consequences for a community in dire need of mental health care and financial assistance. Mental health support can be life-saving—especially for LGBTQ+ folks without financial, family, and/or societal support.
With an increase in Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and the current mental health crisis facing LGBTQ+ youth, organization such as Queer LifeSpace are essential in continuing progress and ensuring safety for the queer community.
Founded in 2011, Queer LifeSpace (QLS) is a well-known community health center that offers evidence-based training, mental health services, and substance abuse services for the LGBTQ+ Community in San Francisco’s Castro.
Over the last 13 years, QLS has offered specialized programs for youth; as well as individual, couples, and group counseling. The organization reports that 52% of the agency’s clients self-identify as non-cisgender, including trans and gender non-conforming clients; and 33% of clients are BIPOC.
Founder Joe Voors says, “Ultimately the goal is to face the trauma, process it. As we do that, anxiety and depression should begin to lift. Once that happens, the mind can naturally begin to heal itself and bring the person some peace.”
While the lease had been secured until 2027, QLS alleges that the landlord (Regent West Ltd) and the property manager (Renoir Property Management) “completely neglected the property for years until suddenly showing up to demand increased rent payments.”
Here is how QLS describes the situation:
- Unlawful Demands: The property owners are demanding exorbitant sums for dubious fees, which Queer LifeSpace asserts are fraudulent. Some of the so-called “maintenance” costs are claimed to have accumulated during the pandemic, despite the facility being unoccupied with the lights out for nearly two years.
- Unjust Eviction: In a highly unethical breach of the active lease agreement, the landlords have begun showing the property to prospective new renters, further disrupting the crucial mental health services being provided on-site. They have already started offering the space to other tenants.
- Community Impact: This egregious behavior by the landlords is not only a direct attack on Queer LifeSpace but also on the broader LGBTQIA+ community, which already faces significant challenges in accessing affordable mental health care. The timing of this harassment is particularly alarming, given the current climate of increasing hostility towards LGBTQIA+ individuals.
The Clinical Director of Queer LifeSpace, Chris Holleran, issued the following statement:
“We are appalled by the landlords’ blatant disregard for our active lease. Our priority is to continue providing life-saving mental health services to our diverse clientele, many of whom are already marginalized and in need of our support. We urge local leaders and the community to stand with us against this unjust eviction and ensure we can continue our critical work.”
If you have the means, please help support and save Queer LifeSpace.
You can donate here.
If you cannot financially support Queer LifeSpace, please share this story and get the word out to preserve a vital organization that has been supporting the LGBTQ+ community for over a decade.
You can find more information on their website.
Featured image courtesy of Queer LifeSpace.
