ABOVE: City of Orlando (Photo courtesy City of Orlando’s official Facebook page.)
The City of Orlando, in a recent open letter, criticized a proposed amendment to the Equal Access rule which would potentially limit trans individuals’ access to temporary housing aid.
Equal Access in Accordance With an Individual’s Gender Identity in Community Planning and Development Programs, a regulation established in 2016, requires that all programs and shelters funded under programs administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development “be provided without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.”
On July 1, HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced a proposed modification of this rule. This modification would give shelter providers that operate as a single-sex or sex-segregated facility the ability to “voluntarily establish a policy that will govern admissions determinations for situations when an individual’s gender identity does not match their biological sex.” For instance, a women’s emergency shelter could deny a transgender woman access to their facility because she is not biologically female.
Even though HUD has made the assurance that shelters’ policies are “required to be consistent with state and local law [and] must not discriminate based on sexual orientation or transgender status,” the City of Orlando believes that this amendment has the opportunity to promote further discrimination against members of the trans community and maintain a broader tradition of inequality.
“Transgender people already face enormous barriers when trying to find a home,” Marcia Hope Goodwin, chief service officer and director for City of Orlando, wrote in a letter to member organizations of the LGBTQ coalition One Orlando Alliance. “This rule will increase potential discrimination, violence and even sexual assault in emergency shelters.”
“The National Center for Transgender Equality found that one in five trans people have faced discrimination when seeking housing, more than one in 10 have faced evictions and one in [five] have been homeless,” Goodwin added.
There is also a concern that the systemic inequity embedded in common racial disparities can exacerbate the effects of the amendment for trans people of color.
“This [new rule] can also disproportionally impact Black transgender women,” Goodwin wrote. “A 2015 report by the Center for American Progress stated that 34% of Black transgender individuals live in extreme poverty compared to 9% of their counterparts in the Black community.”
Despite the potential exclusivity of this proposed modification, Goodwin took a moment to emphasize Orlando’s commitment to preserving trans equality, citing the City Beautiful’s previously established protections for the trans community.
“[In August 2014,] [we] established an ordinance that would protect transgender individuals in Orlando if they face discrimination, violence, assault, etc. in local homeless shelters,” Goodwin wrote.
“In addition, all organizations that receive funding from the City of Orlando have a contractual obligation to comply with Chapter 57 of the Code of the City of Orlando, which defines ‘[g]ender [i]dentity’ as actual or perceived sex, and shall also include a person’s gender identity, self-image, appearance, expression or behavior, whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, expression or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the sex assigned to that person at birth,” Goodwin continued.
Goodwin reaffirmed this dedication to trans inclusivity by driving home the importance of diversity to the Orlando community.
“The [c]ity is proud of its diverse community and that we attract people from across the country and globe who want to seek opportunity and call Orlando home,” Goodwin wrote. “Diversity and inclusion are a vital part of our way of life.”
The Department of Housing and Urban Development was established as a cabinet department within the executive branch by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act in September 1965. The department, serving as an extension of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, was tasked with overseeing housing policy and programs on a national level, community development and the enforcement of fair housing laws.
For those interested in voicing their perspective regarding the proposed rule, comments may be submitted to the Regulations Division of the Office of General Counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Comments may be submitted via postal mail to the following address: 451 7th Street, SW, Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500.
Comments may also be submitted electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at Regulations.gov. All submissions must contain the docket number (FR-6152-P-01) and title of the rule (Making Admission or Placement Determinations Based on Sex in facilities Under Community Planning and Development Housing Programs).
