Black Trans Women In South Florida Face Eviction As Moratorium Expires

By E

I am a Black trans woman and my own personal experiences with housing insecurity has been too consistent for comfort. That is why I felt the need to step up and create an emergency rent fund specifically for Black transgender women in South Florida.

For Black trans femmes like myself, job and housing insecurity have been the norm, even before this global pandemic . We have always had to be in survival mode and this pandemic is further exposing all the ways that systems have failed us. Black transgender people are more likely to face unemployment, homelessness and discrimination in housing and jobs.

We don’t want to just barely survive, we deserve to thrive. To be clear, we cannot fundraise our way out of systemic inequities. The only way to ease and balance out injustices that the Black trans community faces in South Florida is through creating pathways to Black trans leadership. Period.

Trust Black trans women to speak to our needs and to be in a position to facilitate and create those resources within organizations in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Don’t try to speak for us. Let us do the work and pay us.

Let me say that again. Pay. Us. and Let. Us. Lead.

I recently started a project to address some of these issues in South Florida and I’m currently working on building it out. The long-term objective is to focus on resources specifically for Black trans individuals in South Florida. From housing security and healthcare to legal and immigration rights for trans folks because —to put it quite plainly, we deserve more than what we’re getting in our local communities.

As a survivor of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and identity fraud, I have had to pause some of the initiatives I’m working on to heal, but even with that, I am still fighting for me and for all Black trans women.

I recently partnered with Community Justice Project to throw a Rent Party that will benefit Black transgender women in South Florida.

Community Justice Project’s Artist-in-Residence Desiree Banister dreamed up the idea of the rent party and has already successfully thrown one that benefitted farmworkers and domestic workers. The idea resonated with me, this virtual rent party and concert inspired by Harlem Renaissance rent parties. It is essentially a community collection plate where each donation in this edition planned for July 31st will go toward helping a Black trans women pay rent.

I am excited to build and I really wanted there to be an immediate pool of emergency rent money specifically for Black trans women in these times.

Florida’s eviction moratorium is set to end one day after the Rent Party, August 1st. At the same time, the Trump administration is trying to gut protections for transgender folks who are homeless by giving shelters permission to deny us access because of who we are .

My hope is that the funds we raise through this virtual rent party will help take the labor off of possibly having to do survival sex work—work that is especially unsafe right now due to COVID — and that we will help local Black trans women live more fully and safely in this moment by having a place to call home.

Long-term, as we continue to build locally around housing and equity I expect Black trans people to be in the room also leading these conversations.

I am acutely aware that issues around Black trans women tend to trend and become hypervisible when we are violently killed — I am asking our community to also care about us with the same passion while we are still here.

There are many organizations and groups doing great mutual aid work right now. However, I personally don’t think most of them are speaking directly to Black trans women in South Florida. I need something to be focused specifically on us and to say, “Black trans folks, this is for you. We want to empower you. We want you to be safe. We want you to have a home.”

This is highly necessary.

E is a Black transgender woman, artist, and organizer based in Miami, Fl. She focuses on creating pathways to safe housing and advocates for sustainable livelihoods for Black, Trans, and Woman identifying folks in South Florida.

Community Justice Project supports grassroots organizing for power, racial justice and human rights with innovative lawyering, research and creative strategy tools. Based in Miami, FL, Community Justice Project is deeply and unapologetically committed to Black and brown communities throughout Florida.