Brian Greenberg, the vice president of programs and services for LifeMoves, the nonprofit that runs New Haven Inn, along with other shelters and supportive services throughout Silicon Valley and the Peninsula.Īs only the second LGBTQ shelter in the Bay Area and one of only a small handful in the country, Greenberg said the shelter fills an important niche.
It’s at capacity now with a waiting list, said Dr. The 20-bed facility opened quietly in December on a residential street in a neighborhood just south of downtown San Jose, and it has gradually been accepting new residents. “Now I sleep so well,” she said of New Haven. She didn’t feel safe in mainstream shelters, she said, where derogatory remarks are routine and more extreme forms of sexual harassment commonplace. Though she’s a native of San Jose, she had been living in Fresno for the past two decades and was long estranged from the family she fled from when she was 14. Without the shelter, Phillips’ options were limited, she said.
Resident Stevie Melissa Phillips becomes emotional during an interview with this news organization at New Haven Inn, the second LGBTQ-focused shelter in the Bay Area, on June 20, 2019, in San Jose.
