San Antonio-based housing nonprofit Thrive wants to reverse an alarming trend.
The organization will open a new neighborhood-style community, Thrive Vecindad, to provide 25 LGBTQ+ youth facing homelessness with a safe and affordable place to stay. Billed as a first-of-its-kind initiative, the project comes at a critical time for LGBTQ+ youth in San Antonio.
“Far too many young people face homelessness simply because of who they are,” Justin Holley, Thrive’s executive director, said in a statement. “Together with the San Antonio Housing Trust Foundation, we are creating a model of care and housing that provides not only shelter, but stability, dignity and opportunity.”
Thrive, which focuses its work on LGBTQ+ youth, is working with the San Antonio Housing Trust to restore two homes and build a third at 1600 Buena Vista St. on the West Side. Together, the organizations hope to have residents move in late 2028 or early 2029.
The project will provide housing for 18- to 24-year-olds experiencing homelessness or housing instability. Thrive will offer case management along with access to resources and opportunities that set residents up for success once they leave the program.
Having a campus to house LGBTQ+ youth in need has always been a dream for Thrive, according to Sacco Leo Castillo-Anguiano, the organization’s outreach and advocacy manager.
The San Antonio Housing Trust, a nonprofit focused on creating and preserving affordable housing, first acquired the Buena Vista property in May 2025 with the hope of working with an organization to provide transitional housing — a temporary supportive residence — for a group in need.
After reviewing proposals from nonprofits interested in the space, Housing Trust officials decided to go with Thrive.
“Their proposal really spoke to a critical need in our community with a very vulnerable population that is underserved and underrepresented in our community,” Housing Trust Executive Director Pete Alanis said.
The San Antonio Housing Trust also is in the process of creating a 68-unit apartment-style development on the South Side to house youth experiencing homelessness. That living option will serve as an optional next step for those at Thrive’s Vecindad development.
Queer youth in San Antonio are particularly vulnerable to homelessness, according to a 2024 study by Trinity University sociology professor Amy Stone conducted for Pride Center San Antonio. Analyzing 685 responses to an online survey from LGBTQ+ Alamo City residents, Stone found that 28.5% of respondents experienced homelessness during their lifetimes, with one in five reporting homelessness before the age of 25.
Vecindad will help address the problem by providing safe and supportive transitional housing, Castillo-Anguiano said. Though Thrive still needs to raise $10 million to complete the project, the community has rallied around the effort.
“We always meet somebody who tells us, ‘Man, I wish y’all were around when I was younger.’ To me, that speaks volumes — to have a space where people can feel affirmed, be housed and not really worry about anything else other than the fact that they have a safe bed, a safe place to be,” Castillo-Anguiano said. “We have so much support from the community.”
The project not only supports LGBTQ+ youth but also helps preserve the historic character of the West Side, the Housing Trust’s Alanis said. This development will restore two historic homes and build a third residence on a lot between them.
“We saw the site and the opportunity with the two homes to see if there was a way to put those two historic buildings back into use in some meaningful way that would support the community and the community’s needs,” Alanis said.
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