Comments on HUD Sex Discrimination in Homeless Shelters

The NYCLU strongly opposes the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed rule entitled Making Admission or Placement Determinations Based on Sex in Facilities Under Community Planning and Development Housing Programs (Docket No. FR-6152-P-01).

Affordable housing is the most humane and effective response to homelessness, but federal housing programs have been underfunded for decades, leaving about one-in-four eligible households without access to a subsidized affordable home. Transgender individuals experience multiple forms of oppression, putting them at increased risk of homelessness. By eviscerating the existing rule prohibiting shelters from discriminating based on gender identity, the proposed rule will deprive transgender individuals of access to resources we all need to stay alive. Especially in the midst of a global pandemic and unemployment crisis, the Department should be taking measures to protect people experiencing homelessness, not creating barriers to shelter.