Washington has an invisible problem: College students face homelessness in some of the biggest numbers anywhere.
Michael is 19, transgender, and homeless. As a transgender person of color, Michael embodies some of the most sobering data on who is impacted by homelessness. Most estimates put LGBTQ people at less than 7 percent of the population. Yet a 2017 county survey found that 29 percent of homeless youth identified as LGBTQ. The same report found that people of color represent about 53 percent of homeless youth, despite people of color only accounting for 29 percent of King County, Washington’s total population.
This video is from our public media friends at Spark Public.
[FLEX-CONTENT]
— Follow Flatland @FlatlandKC
Reading these stories is free, but telling them is not. Start your monthly gift now to support Flatland’s community-focused reporting.
Related Stories
Nick’s Picks | Fan Fest, Streetcar, Liquor and More …
World Cup Begins The wait is finally over. The first ball of the 2026 World Cup will be kicked Thursday, ushering in 5 ½ weeks of competition across the United States, Canada and Mexico. It’s also opening day for Kansas City’s FIFA Fan Fest at the National World War I Museum and Memorial—our first real…
Nick’s Picks | Messi, Jail, Buses, and More …
World Cup Team(s) Arrive It’s starting to feel real. The first World Cup team has landed in Kansas City. Defending champions Argentina touched down at KCI airport on Sunday and will begin practicing today at Sporting KC’s training facility in Wyandotte County. Much of the attention, of course, is focused on Lionel Messi. The soccer…
World Cup ‘Statement Piece’ Evokes Best Version of Kansas City
Before I moved to Kansas City almost 56 years ago, I had been here only once — for a brief visit to the Kansas City Press Club when I was attending the University of Missouri School of Journalism. But because of that visit and the fact that I grew up in the Midwest (Woodstock, Illinois,…