The Montrose Center and Grace Place Open Asia’s House, Houston’s First LGBTQ-Affirming Emergency Shelter for Youth Ages 15–17

Published Date: August 17, 2026 Category: Youth Services

Asia's House common room. Photo: Raul Chaidez/the Montrose Center

The six-bedroom shelter is named for Asia Jynaé Foster and opens September 1.

Until now, the closest LGBTQ-affirming shelter bed for a 16-year-old fleeing an unsafe home in Houston was in Austin, 150 miles away. Today, the Montrose Center and Grace Place unveiled Asia’s House, a six-bedroom emergency shelter that gives Houston youth somewhere to go.

Asia’s House is named for Asia Jynaé Foster, a young transgender Houstonian and member of the Grace Place community who was murdered in 2020. She had called for exactly this kind of support.

The Montrose Center has provided housing for young adults ages 18 to 24 for years, and has watched the gap below that age line stay open. Asia’s House closes it. The Center contributed startup funding for the lease and staffing, advises Grace Place leadership as the organization nearly doubles in size, and opens its continuum of care — counseling, behavioral health, substance use treatment and recovery — to every young person who comes through the door.

“We are proud to partner with Grace Place and support the launch of Asia’s House, which fills a significant gap in Houston’s housing landscape,” said Avery Belyeu, CEO of the Montrose Center. “This was a natural fit: two organizations in the same ecosystem working collaboratively to ensure LGBTQ+ youth have a safe and affirming place to call home.”

Grace Place is the lead organization. It holds and administers the federal grant and is solely responsible for the program’s operation and staffing.

“Asia told us what young people here needed, and she was right. Building this in her name means the young person who walks through our door at 16 doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone to be safe tonight,” said Courtney Sellers, Executive Director of Grace Place. “We are not asking them for permission slips. We are asking them what they need.”

WHY AGES 15 TO 17

Because that is where the gap is, and the gap is dangerous. A young person who leaves home at 16 has almost nowhere to go in this region. Adult shelters cannot take them, and the beds that do exist for minors sit inside the child welfare system and are reached through CPS, law enforcement, or a parent — not by a young person who walks in on their own.

Up to 40% of young people experiencing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+. Research on youth experiencing homelessness has found trafficking rates ranging from 19% to 40%, and in one study, 22% of young people were approached for paid sex on their first night without housing. The nights a young person spends without a safe place to sleep are precisely when they become vulnerable to exploitation.

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS

Serves young people ages 15–17 in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, open to all sexualities and gender identities
Referrals through intensive street outreach, school partnerships and a 24-hour hotline
Entry is voluntary — no referral required, and no adult has to sign a young person in
Safe, stable long-term housing placement is the goal, with a target of 21 days
Staff contact a parent or guardian within 72 hours; the youth’s safety governs any return home
On site: case management, counseling, life skills training, tutoring and employment support
Through the Montrose Center: licensed counselors, mental health and behavioral health support, and substance use treatment and recovery services
Funded in part through a grant from the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, administered by Grace Place, with additional private support

The shelter’s location is not being disclosed, a deliberate decision to protect the safety and privacy of the young people it serves.

A PARTNERSHIP YEARS IN THE MAKING

Grace Place has served unhoused LGBTQ+ young people in Houston since 2010, but has never operated a dedicated shelter until now. The partnership was built over years of working alongside one another — in youth services, in HIV and STI prevention, in recovery support — and more recently through the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Community Summit and local coalition. The two organizations remain fully independent; this is a collaboration in which each contributes what it does best.

Where returning home is the right path, Grace Place can refer both the young person and their family to services at the Montrose Center. Acceptance at home is something families often need help building, and that work continues long after a shelter stay ends.