City Limits: A transgender former shelter resident is suing New York City, saying city shelters failed to place her in a shelter for women or transgender people, putting her at risk of assault on multiple occasions.
Jane Doe moved from Florida to New York City in 2020 because of its reputation as a safe city for transgender people.
But when she lost her home in the summer of 2022 and entered a homeless shelter, the city repeatedly failed to place her in a shelter that conformed with her gender identity, a lawsuit from Housing Works, Brooklyn Legal Services and Wang Hecker LLP alleges.
During a two and a half year stay across three city shelters, Doe says shelter staff ignored her requests to be placed in a room with women or in a bed specifically for transgender people. Shelter staff repeatedly placed Doe in rooms with men, her lawyers say, putting her at risk of violence and predation.
Doe was sexually assaulted multiple times by other shelter residents during that period, the lawsuit filed in late October says.