HUD Proposal Endangers Transgender People Experiencing Homelessness
By: Nick Adjami
June 4, 2026
June is Pride Month, a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and recognition of the ongoing struggle for equal rights. Throughout the month, ERC will share current issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, relevant insights from our fair housing work, and actions you can take to protect LGBTQ+ rights. Today’s blog addresses a new HUD proposal to roll back protections for transgender people experiencing homelessness, and how you can fight back.
The Equal Access Rule
In 2016, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued its Equal Access Rule, requiring federally funded homeless shelters to grant equal access to individuals in accordance with their gender identity. The rule ensured transgender individuals, who face a high risk of homelessness, could access appropriate facilities. Prior to the release of the 2016 guidance, ERC, working with the Center for American Progress, investigated the degree to which transgender homeless women were able to access shelter in accordance with their gender identity. At the time, only 30 percent of shelters tested were willing to house the transgender women test callers appropriately. One in five shelters outright refused to serve transgender women.
HUD’s adoption of the 2016 Equal Access Rule increased transgender people’s ability to access shelter free from discrimination. Access to shelter is a fundamental necessity, especially for LGBTQ people. LGBTQ youth face homelessness at double the rate of their non-LGBTQ peers and nearly a third of transgender people experience homelessness in their lifetime. Being unsheltered while homeless is associated with much higher rates of illness among all homeless populations, and is especially dangerous for transgender people, who are more likely to face harassment and violence.
Now, HUD is trying to roll back vital Equal Access Rule protections. Last year, the agency stopped enforcing the 2016 rule. Then, on April 28, 2026, HUD proposed a new rule to eliminate anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals at federally funded shelters entirely. If implemented, HUD-funded shelters could be forced to discriminate against the transgender community and turn away people in need. Transgender people experiencing homelessness could be forced into unsafe situations on the street or in shelters that don’t align with their gender identity.
What You Can Do
You can help protect LGBTQ+ rights by submitting a comment opposing HUD’s proposed rollback. In 2020, the first Trump administration attempted to issue a similar rule, but received tens of thousands of comments in opposition, and ultimately did not finalize the rule before the Biden administration took over and withdrew it. Advocates for Trans Equality has created a template to help you draft your comment and a toolkit so you can encourage others to take action too. The deadline to submit a comment is June 29th.
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The ERC is a civil rights organization that identifies and seeks to eliminate unlawful and unfair discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations in its home community of Greater Washington DC and nationwide. The ERC’s core strategy for identifying unlawful and unfair discrimination is civil rights testing. When the ERC identifies discrimination, it seeks to eliminate it through the use of testing data to educate the public and business community, support policy advocacy, conduct compliance testing and training, and, if necessary, take enforcement action. For more information, please visit www.equalrightscenter.org.
