On February 7, HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced HUD will stop enforcing the 2016 Equal Access Rule, which requires housing, facilities, and services funded through HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) to ensure equal access to programs for individuals based on their gender identity without intrusive questioning or being asked to provide documentation. Secretary Turner stated that the action “will ensure housing programs, shelters and other HUD-funded providers offer services to Americans based on their sex at birth.” NLIHC will continue to advocate for equal access and fair housing for LGBTQ+ people.
In a press conference following Secretary Turner’s first address to HUD, Turner stated, “I am directing HUD staff to halt any pending or future enforcement actions related to HUD’s 2016 Equal Access Rule, which, in essence, tied housing programs, shelters and other facilities funded by HUD to far-left gender ideology.” Turner continued: “We, at this agency, are carrying out the mission laid out by President Trump on January 20th when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government.”
Weakening the Equal Access Rule and its enforcement mechanisms is unacceptable. Access to shelter is a basic, fundamental necessity. LGBTQ youth are more than twice as likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ peers, and black LGBTQ youth have the highest rates of youth homelessness. One in three transgender people will experience homelessness in their lifetime, and 70% of trans people who have used a shelter have experienced harassment. NLIHC will continue to work with LGBTQ advocates to ensure that everyone has access to safe, decent, affordable housing.
Read the statement from Secretary Turner here.
View the press conference here.
Read more about the Equal Access Rule here.