A project to convert and refurbish a number of distressed homes on North Claiborne Avenue in the 8th Ward into housing for displaced or homeless transgendered people is underway.
Called the House of TULIP (Trans United Leading Intersectional Progress) the ambitious undertaking would be the only one of its kind in the nation.
House of TULIP is looking to raise one million dollars as a starting budget to make the purchases and necessary renovations.
The idea is to help transgender and non-gender conforming people who have lost their jobs in the hospitality and service businesses.
House of TULIP is the brainchild of activists Mariah Moore and Milan Nicole Sherry.
The founders see the refuge as more than a temporary stop over.
Moore tells the Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate “Imagine if you had your own small safe place,” she said, “surrounded by people who are there to protect you.”
The idea is to help those seeking a place to get their lives in order and ultimately become renters living on the property.
As House of TULIP grows, it would expand and ultimately start building it's own properties.
Co-founder Milan Sherry envisions the project in a decade as a place where the trans-community can take care of itself.
“We’re fighting for a space in a world that doesn’t see us as valuable, that doesn’t see our humanity,” she tells the paper.
In this period of coronavirus and tight budgets, TULIP initially raised $20,000 for transgender coronavirus relief initially before establishing their goal of housing.
It's hoped the House of TULIP can help cushion the harsh and dangerous world for transgender people of all races who face exclusion, transphobia, racism and misogyny from the all aspects of society.
Dylan Waguespack, a transgender person who spent time homeless and on the streets, says “Anything that said ‘Trans kids are safe here’ would have been good. It’s sometimes important just to be in a room with other people that look like you and feel like you do.”
In a month since launching their project, House of TULIP has raised $300,000 in start up revenue.
That money has gone toward the purchase of five homes along blighted North Claiborne Avenue in the 8th Ward.
If successful, renovations could begin by the end of the year and House of TULIP could be in operation by Summer 2021.
