HUD Proposes to Rescind LGBTQ+ Anti-Discrimination Protections in HUD Programs; Advocates 4 Trans Equality Launches Campaign Opposing Rule

By NLIHC Policy Team

On April 28, HUD published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions.” The NPRM seeks to remove regulatory provisions that protect access to HUD shelter and housing programs regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The comment period for the NPRM is open until June 29 at 11:59 pm ET. 

If finalized, the rule would remove protections for LGBTQ+ people trying to access HUD programs, invite invasive questioning about a person’s sex assigned at birth, and attempt to override state and local anti-discrimination laws. The proposed rule follows an earlier attempt under the first Trump administration to allow for discrimination against transgender people within HUD-assisted housing. Furthermore, HUD has chosen to not enforce the 2016 Equal Access Rule (EAR) since February 2025 (see Memo, 2/10/2025).

NLIHC supports Advocates 4 Trans Equality (A4TE)’s Housing with Dignity Campaign and urges advocates to use the toolkit available at transequality.org/EARcomment.

Background on Equal Access

When one in three transgender people experience homelessness in their lives, LGBTQ+ youth make up 40% of the homeless youth population, and transgender people report feeling unsafe in emergency shelters, these realities demand an intentional commitment to creating pathways to safe, decent, affordable housing that addresses inequities. 

HUD’s history of administratively ensuring equal access to federally assisted shelter for LGBTQ+ people started with the 2012 Equal Access Rule, where the final regulation prohibited inquiring about an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity when determining eligibility. While inquiring about an applicant’s sex was allowed for the purpose of determining placement in temporary, emergency shelters (with shared bedrooms/bathrooms) and the number of bedrooms a household may be entitled to, the 2012 rule was guided by making core housing programs accessible “without regard to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.” 

HUD updated the rule in 2016 to add the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” with the latter defined as “the gender with which a person identifies, regardless of the sex assigned at birth.” The updates largely focused on the barriers transgender and gender non-conforming people face in securing equal access to shelter. The 2016 rule required that all housing/services funded by the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) ensure equal access to programs for individuals based on their gender identity without being asked to provide documentation; this consisted of removing the provision from the 2012 rule that permitted inquiring about an applicant’s sex and adding a provision protecting against intrusive questioning and asking for anatomical information, physical, or medical documentary proof of one’s gender identity. 

Trump Administration Targets LGBTQ+ People, Fails to Enforce Equal Access to Housing

However, in 2020, the Trump administration attempted to weaken protections for transgender individuals experiencing homelessness and seeking emergency shelter through proposed changes to the EAR. While the rule was not finalized, its features consisted of 1) reducing the definition of gender identity to mean actual or perceived gender-related characteristics (rather than how an individual identifies) and 2) allowing shelter providers to house or deny individuals depending on their own policies for determining sex, their own ascertainments of an individual’s sex using a “good faith belief,” and physical characteristics like height or the presence of an Adam’s apple as “reasonable considerations” as indicators of a person’s sex. The 2020 proposal received over 66,000 comments, an overwhelming response signifying public resistance to the rule. In 2021, then-President Biden’s Executive Order 13998 reinforced laws that prohibited sex discrimination, and the 2020 proposed rule was withdrawn. 

Yet in 2025, President Trump’s EO 14168 expressed the administration’s intent to roll back civil rights protections for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals—and in February, HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced the halting of ongoing or future enforcement actions for the 2016 EAR, describing the rule as linking “housing programs, shelter, and other facilities funded by HUD to far-left gender ideology” (see Memo, 2/10/25). The proposed rule acts as a continuation of this effort. NLIHC strongly opposes this latest attempt by the administration to roll back critical protections for the LGBTQ+ community. 

Early Analysis of the Proposed Rule

The proposed rule would eliminate LGBTQ+ protections across a range of HUD programs. Components of the rule include:

• Removing all references to “gender,” “gender identity,” and “sexual orientation,” and replacing them with “sex,” eliminating protections for LGBTQ+ individuals’ nondiscriminatory access to shelter and HUD programs, including Section 8 housing/other housing programs, fair housing enforcement and administration, mortgage programs, homelessness and domestic violence programs, and community development programs.
• Allowing facilities, like single-sex shelters, to “require reasonable assurances or evidence to establish a person’s sex.”
• Attempting to preempt any conflicting state or local laws (i.e., laws that offer protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity) within the context of HUD CPD programs.

HUD’s reasoning for these provisions is not evidence-based and draws conclusions that demonstrate anti-transgender rhetoric, where:

• In making the claim that women experiencing homelessness are at risk of sexual harassment, assault, and re-traumatization when sharing space with transgender women, HUD devalues gender identity and vilifies transgender women when suggesting that “biological men may exploit the process of self-identification under the current rule to gain access to women’s shelters.” 
  • Notably, HUD does not back up this assertion with any findings that the 2016 EAR (i.e., equal access for transgender women in CPD programs) resulted in women experiencing sexual harassment or assault. 
• HUD argues that housing transgender individuals burdens faith-based shelters and providers—violating their sincerely held religious beliefs that consequently “reduces the amount of help available to homeless individuals.” 
  • Contrarily, numerous faith-based organizations opposed the rule in 2020 and continue to affirm the rights of LGBTQ+ neighbors seeking safety. 

While HUD’s discussion is centered on single-sex spaces, the proposed rule’s erosion of protections for LGBTQ+ individuals has dangerous implications. This rulemaking would deny individuals’ access to shelters while impeding organizations’ commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and justice. 

Read the proposed rule here.

Learn more about the Equal Access Rule’s history here.

Explore Chapter 6 of NLIHC’s Advocates’ Guide to learn about LGBTQ+ access to housing assistance.