Financial Aid for Providing Hostel Facility to Transgender Students

What is the transgender student hostel facility scheme?

Financial Aid for Providing Hostel Facility to Transgender Students is a scheme of the Department of Social Justice, Government of Kerala, that pays Rs 4,000 per month to a transgender student as rent for a hostel place or other accommodation.

The scheme exists because of a gap the department found in its own scholarship programme. Kerala already runs a scholarship for transgender students, framed to help school dropouts return to education. According to the Social Justice Department, 58 percent of transgender students drop out before completing 10th grade, and 24 percent drop out even before completing 9th grade. The department attributes this to severe harassment that makes studies impossible and to other gender-related negative experiences at school.

The scholarship, however, did not solve accommodation. The department records that the transgender community is still ostracised, and that despite improvement in public attitudes, the stigma around giving a transgender person a house persists. Students holding the scholarship were being forced to discontinue their studies for want of a place to live. This scheme was introduced to close that gap by funding the rent directly.

Key features

• Rs 4,000 per month, paid as rent assistance for hostel facility or accommodation.
• Open to students in government, aided, unaided and self-financing institutions.
• Paid directly into the student's bank account after scrutiny.
• A new application every academic year: there is no automatic renewal.

Who is eligible for the transgender hostel facility scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a transgender person studying in Kerala.
• You are pursuing a course in a government, aided, unaided or self-financing institution. The scheme names all four types.
• You need hostel or rented accommodation to continue your studies, and can obtain a declaration from the house owner or hostel.
• You can obtain a declaration statement from the District Transgender Justice Board or the District Social Justice Officer.
• You have a bank account in your own name for the transfer.

You cannot apply: or are not eligible: if:

• You are not a transgender person. This is a targeted scheme under Kerala's Transgender Policy.
• You are not enrolled in a course at the time of application. The institution's declaration is mandatory and cannot be given for a person who has discontinued.
• You cannot produce the house owner's declaration, because there is no accommodation arrangement to fund.
• You did not submit a fresh application at the commencement of the current academic year. Last year's sanction does not carry over.
• The bank account named is not in the applicant's own name.

What documents are required?

The three declaration statements are the heart of this application. The Social Justice Department lists them expressly: the duly filled application forms have to be submitted along with supporting documents, being declaration statements from the District Transgender Justice Board or District Social Justice Officer, from the house owner, and from the concerned educational institution.

How to apply for the transgender hostel facility scheme

1. Download the application form, "Financial Aid for providing hostel facility to Transgenders", from the scheme page on sjd.kerala.gov.in, or collect it from your District Social Justice Office.
2. Get the declaration from your District Transgender Justice Board or the District Social Justice Officer. Approach the Board in your district with your transgender identity card if you hold one.
3. Get the house owner's declaration. If you are in a hostel, the hostel authority gives the equivalent statement. It should show the accommodation and the rent payable.
4. Get the declaration from your educational institution, signed and sealed by the head of institution, confirming the course you are pursuing.
5. Attach a copy of your bank passbook showing your name, account number and IFSC code.
6. Submit the duly filled form with all three declarations to the District Social Justice Office.
7. Take a dated acknowledgement and keep it for follow-up.
8. Re-apply at the commencement of the next academic year, since the benefit is not renewed automatically.

How is the Rs 4,000 paid?

After scrutiny of the applications, the financial aid of Rs 4,000 per month is transferred to the bank account of the eligible candidate. The department routes the money to the student rather than to the landlord or the hostel, which means the student pays the rent and holds the receipts.

Because the aid is paid to the student's own account, the account name must match the name on the application and the declarations exactly. A student who has changed their name after obtaining a transgender identity card should update the bank record first — a mismatch between the bank record and the identity documents is the most common reason a sanctioned payment fails to land.

When should I apply?

Apply at the commencement of the academic year. The Social Justice Department states that during the commencement of each academic year the students have to submit a new application for getting the benefit of this scheme. Applying early matters for a practical reason as well: the accommodation has to be arranged before the house owner's declaration can be obtained, and finding accommodation is precisely the difficulty the scheme was created to address.

The department has not published a single statewide last date. Ask your District Social Justice Office when its window for the current year opens and closes.

How do I check the status of my application?

1. Contact the District Social Justice Office where the form was submitted, quoting your acknowledgement.
2. Ask the District Transgender Justice Board to follow up, since the Board issued one of your declarations and is part of the district's transgender welfare machinery.
3. Call the 24x7 transgender helpline on 1800 425 2147 if you are being turned away or cannot get an answer.
4. Write to the Directorate of Social Justice at swdkerala@gmail.com with your name, district and acknowledgement details.

Why applications get rejected

• One of the three declarations is missing. The commonest failure by far, usually the house owner's declaration.
• The institution declaration is unsigned or not on the institution's letterhead.
• No fresh application filed for the current academic year.
• Bank account name mismatch, which stops the transfer after sanction.
• Course discontinued between application and sanction.
• Application submitted without the District Transgender Justice Board or District Social Justice Officer declaration, which is the document that establishes eligibility under the scheme.

If a landlord refuses to give a written declaration, raise it with the District Transgender Justice Board rather than abandoning the application, mediating this exact situation is part of why the Board and the transgender cell exist.

What other Kerala schemes can transgender students use?

• Scholarship for Transgender Students, the scholarship this hostel aid was designed to support.
• Saphalam, for transgender students pursuing professional courses.
• Varnam, for transgender students in distance education courses.
• Samanwaya; continuing education for transgender persons who dropped out, run with the Kerala State Literacy Mission Authority.
• Yathnam, for transgender persons preparing for competitive examinations.
• Overseas scholarship scheme for transgender persons.
• Housing scheme for transgender persons, for longer-term accommodation beyond a student's course years.

Where do I complain?

• 24x7 transgender helpline: 1800 425 2147, which also offers counselling and legal assistance.
• District Transgender Justice Board in your district.
• Transgender Cell of the Social Justice Department.
• Directorate of Social Justice, Vikas Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram 695033, phone 0471-2306040 or 0471-2302887.
• Public Grievance section on sjd.kerala.gov.in.

The scheme has no application fee. No officer, landlord or institution may charge for issuing the declarations required under it.