Milwaukee Launches Public Art Campaign Highlighting LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness Crisis

Milwaukee has launched a citywide public art campaign called "Unsheltered" to raise awareness about the homelessness crisis among LGBTQ+ youth, who represent 40% of the 4.2 million youth experiencing housing instability nationwide. The installations, consisting of uniquely designed life-size cardboard beds placed in five locations around the city, symbolize the vulnerable youth forced to sleep on the streets or in unsafe environments due to family rejection and systemic failures. Courage+, Milwaukee's only nonprofit exclusively housing LGBTQ+ youth, spearheaded the project in partnership with local artists and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. The campaign aims to educate the community, encourage support, and generate donations to expand Courage+'s services, which include housing, crisis stabilization, and educational support. Despite the lack of recent local data on LGBTQ+ youth homelessness since 2014, organizers emphasize the urgent need for more shelters across Wisconsin's counties. Local officials, including Milwaukee's mayor, have expressed support for the initiative, highlighting the importance of collective efforts to address this growing epidemic.