Transgender Individuals Experience Homelessness at Eight Times the Rate of the General U.S. Population
Jun 08, 2026
By Mackenzie Pish, NLIHC Research Analyst
A report published by Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) and the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), “Nationwide Survey Shows Widespread Discrimination Against Gender-Expansive People, Including in Emergency Shelters,” found that nearly 1 in 3 transgender people have experienced homelessness in their lifetime and 6 in 10 of transgender individuals who have experienced homelessness have been denied access to shelter due to gender. NLIHC, NAEH, and other advocacy organizations encourage supporters to submit public comments opposing a HUD proposed rule that seeks to eliminate protections against gender- and sexual-orientation-based discrimination in HUD housing and emergency shelter (see Memo, 6/8).
The report relies on the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) of 92,329 gender-expansive people aged 16 and older residing in the United States, a U.S. territory, or a U.S. military base overseas. The authors use the term gender-expansive to describe people whose gender identities have changed since birth or whose identities do not neatly fit into categories of male or female. This includes people who identify as Transgender Men, Transgender Women, Nonbinary people assigned male at birth, Nonbinary people assigned female at birth, and crossdressers.
Thirty percent of gender-expansive respondents reported experiencing homelessness in their lifetime, and 7% reported experiencing homelessness in the past year compared to 4% and 1.5% of the general U.S. population, respectively. Gender-expansive people experience homelessness at eight times the rate of the U.S. population in general. Indigenous and Black gender-expansive individuals experience homelessness at even higher rates—half of indigenous and 39% of Black respondents reported experience with homelessness at some point in their lives.
Gender-expensive respondents who faced family rejection and stigma were more likely to experience homelessness. Respondents who reported experiencing family rejection were more likely to experience homelessness in the last 12 months than those who did not experience rejection (8% vs. 4%). Those who reported that others could tell they were transgender were more likely to experience homelessness than those who said other people could not tell (8% vs. 6%).
Nearly all (97%) gender-expansive respondents who had experienced homelessness were verbally harassed, sexually assaulted, or physically attacked while homeless, including while accessing emergency shelters. More than half (58%) were denied access to shelter due to their gender. Twenty-two percent were sheltered with the wrong gender and 27% left shelter due to poor treatment.
In addition to facing abuse from others, gender-expansive people are more likely than the general U.S. population to consider suicide, and even more likely if they have experienced homelessness in their lifetime. Nearly 6 in 10 (59%) of gender-expansive respondents who experienced homelessness reported considering suicide, compared to 4 in 10 (38%) gender-expansive respondents who had never experienced homelessness and 5% of the U.S. population who had never experienced homelessness.
Read the report here.
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