LGBTQ Advocates Announce Story Portal and Equal Access Rule Resources – Share YOUR Story on Gender-Affirming Shelter Access!
Jun 02, 2025
By Kayla Blackwell, NLIHC Housing Policy Analyst
The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR), and SAGE released an Equal Access Rule Story Collection Portal to elevate stories highlighting the importance of the Equal Access Rule (EAR). If you or someone you know has faced barriers to accessing shelter and housing resources based on gender identity, sexual orientation, or marital status or has benefited from policies that protect equal access to housing services, respond to the portal questionnaire here. National advocates also released new resources and tools to protect equal access to housing and services, including an NAEH webinar, “Defending the Equal Access Rule: Supporting Vulnerable Clients and Preserving Universal Protections” June 5 at 3 pm ET.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced in February that HUD will stop enforcing the 2016 EAR, 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 (see Memo, 2/10). Advocates anticipate attempts to weaken the EAR and are preparing advocacy tools. NAEH has released two new fact sheets on EAR: one for congressional staff, highlighting the importance of EAR and urging Congress to oppose efforts to repeal or weaken it; and another fact sheet for advocates and housing providers explaining the rule and why housing advocates should mobilize to defend it.
Weakening the EAR 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, and affordable housing.
Read about the Equal Access Rule in NLIHC’s 2025 Advocate’s Guide article, “Shelter Access for Transgender People Experiencing Homelessness.”
Respond to the story portal here.
Register for the June 5 webinar here.
Read the EAR fact sheet for congressional staff here and the EAR fact sheet for advocates and housing providers here.