“Getting it Wrong”: The First City-Funded Shelter Focused on the Trans Community is a Nightmare
Mariah Lopez, Executive Director of S.T.A.R.R., continues to fight for justice in the New York City shelter system conditions for trans clients and employees alike.
by Lana Leonard
“A dozen or so people are willing to say that they've been at one or several of Destination Tomorrow 's [LGBTQ shelter] locations, that they have been abused and mistreated at all of them,” Mariah Lopez, executive director of S.T.A.R.R., told Assigned Media in an exclusive interview.
Lopez is fighting for clean, safe, and habitable conditions at the country’s first-ever city-funded shelter focused on houseless trans, and gender nonconforming people (TGNC) in NYC called Ace’s Place. The shelter is run by a nonprofit called Destination Tomorrow whose stated mission is “to empower our most vulnerable LGBTQ+ community members in a way that takes them off the path of needing emergency care.”
Mariah Lopez first met Sylvia Rivera as a young girl at Rusty Mae Moore’s Transy House. Moore and Chelsea Goodwin operated Transy House between 1995-2008 to house transgender, nonbinary and gender nonconforming youth. S.T.A.R.R. was originally founded by Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson in 1970 (originally titled Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries—S.T.A.R.)
“It was a lack of housing—then for queer youth—that brought Sylvia and I together,” Lopez said.
Transy House was the last known address of Sylvia Rivera, and was the place she took Lopez in as her daughter before her passing.
Before Lopez met Sylvia Rivera, she was constantly fighting the system for secure housing, and against civil rights violations.
“I started suing on behalf of LGBT rights when I was only 13 years old,” Lopez told Assigned Media in an exclusive interview.
She fought and won cases like Joel A v Giuliani. Filed in 1999, this case is responsible for adding to child welfare system reforms for queer youth; and Jean Doe v Bell, which in 2002-2003 led to trans protections against discrimination under the New York State Human Rights Law.
Today, up to 40% of the 4.2 million youth still experiencing homelessness are LGBTQ+, according to Advocates for Trans Equality.
Lopez has reinvigorated the legacy Rivera and Johnson created with a new incarnation of S.T.A.R.R. (renamed the Strategic Trans Alliance for Radical Reform). However, Lopez is experiencing many of the same obstacles Rivera and Johnson once faced.
The “Sylvia of it all is like she'd be railing, like I am,” Lopez said. “We're getting it wrong, and [NYC politicians and LGBTQ leaders are] not listening to her, and [they’re] elevating people superficially,” Lopez continued.
Lopez sent me more than 10 emails detailing the lack of care employees and trans community members have felt as a result of Destination Tomorrow’s management of the shelter. Lopez also asserts there was no competitive bidding process for TGNC shelter contracts, a claim Destination Tomorrow disputes.
“Hello, I’m a resident at Aces Place and for the last two weeks we have had issues with units either not having heat or water, some even both,” said one of the ten email complaints regarding Ace’s Place conditions that Lopez shared with Assigned Media. Also “we have this cisgender man that are either trans attracted or pansexual coming into our shelter, saying what they have to say to fit the criteria in order to reside at our shelter and it’s becoming a problem.. to the point where it’s becoming predatorial because certain men are pushing sexual advances on trans women of different stages of their transition, hoping that one or two or possibly three are desperate enough to take their sexual advances and it’s scary..” the email continued.
Ace’s Place originated out of a lawsuit Lopez won against the state in 2017: Mariah Lopez v. NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS). It was around this time that Lopez was found to be unfairly treated by Marsha’s Place (named after Marsha P. Johnson), a shelter in the Bronx with a focus on trans people that had an age limit of 30-years-old and didn’t allow people with mental illness to be housed there, according to Lopez. She explained that these kinds of policies would’ve barred Marsha P. Johnson herself from the very shelter built in her name; policies that led to the shelter denying Lopez and her dog access to Marsha’s House (also operated by Destination Tomorrow).
“Under the terms of the settlement, New York City has agreed to create dedicated shelter units for trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people in four boroughs by the end of 2022, among other provisions,” according to a 2021 press release from Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal organization representing S.T.A.R.R. in 2017 and today.
The case was filed during the DeBlasio administration, and highlighted the City's failure to serve trans people in safe shelters, but under Mayor Eric Adams, the priorities of the DeBlasio administration fell to the wayside. Lopez was committed to act on the city’s settlement agreement to build four shelters committed to the trans and gender nonconforming community.
“The reports of subpar living conditions and harassment at Ace’s Place “is horrifying,” said City Councilmember Julie Won in an emailed statement. Ace’s Place is located in her district.
“In 2021, this City promised a safe and affirming bed for New Yorkers long excluded and abused by its shelter system. This City cannot walk back on its promise now.”
“My office has heard several complaints from residents of Ace’s Places. In February, I sent a letter to Destination Tomorrow, the Ace's Place’s operator, and the Department of Social Services inquiring on the undignified condition found at the shelter. Despite reassurances from the Department of Social Services that the shelter provider would address these conditions and ensure that shelter residences have necessary amenities without fear of retaliation, these practices persist. If such conditions continue, I am committed to advocating for my transgender and [gender] non-conforming neighbors and everyone who lives in shelters calling for the city to do more,” the statement continued.
A Destination Tomorrow representative from the PR firm The Tasc Group responded to a request for comment. Over the phone, they shared that in light of the accusations against them there is not much that they can share at this time. They contest that there was a competitive bidding process for the shelter.
Last summer, Lopez entered the shelter system as a client to observe the issues clients and employees had been detailing to her in email regarding Ace’s Place.
During her stay she observed cisgender clients walking around in their boxers; roaches, filthy conditions in certain common areas; frozen meals instead of the chef Lopez said was budgeted for.
In 2025 Lopez filed motions to prevent City from placing trans and gender nonconforming folks at Ace’s due to subpar conditions against the New York City Department of Homeless Services (“DHS”) and the New York City Human Resources Administration.
S.T.A.R.R., including lawyers, met with the Mamdani transition team, according to emails between Lopez and Brian Kepple, the policy lead on Zohran Mamdami Transition. She says that after the transition the administration has gone dark.
On February 19 of this year, Lopez sent Mayor Zohran Mamdani a letter requesting immediate action on health and safety concerns at Ace’s Place, and a meeting—hoping to skirt current litigation, but failed to. The New York City Mayor’s press office hasn’t responded to a number of requests for comment by Assigned Media.
This is a developing story.
Lana Leonard (they/them) is a freelance multimedia journalist, and social justice activist based in New York City.