Issue
In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order stating that the federal government would no longer recognize transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people. In April 2026, HUD issued a request for comments on its proposal to remove references to “gender” and “gender identity” from the agency’s regulations and replace them with “sex” in accordance with the executive order. The 2016 Equal Access Rule requires that programs under HUD’s Community Planning and Development Programs permit transgender people and gender minorities to obtain housing and shelter in accordance with their gender identity. If approved, the new rule would require single-sex homeless shelters to house transgender people according to their sex assigned at birth.
Impact
Research shows that transgender and nonbinary people in the U.S. experience high levels of housing instability and homelessness and face barriers to accessing shelter, including violence, harassment, and discrimination. If enacted, the proposed rule would likely result in the exclusion of transgender and nonbinary people from shelters on the basis of their gender identity. Recent research from the Williams Institute shows that homelessness and unstable housing are correlated with increased risk of suicidality among transgender and nonbinary people.
Summary
Scholars present research demonstrating how the proposed rule is inconsistent with current evidence and may violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the Evidence Act, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They present findings on transgender Americans’ experiences with housing instability and homelessness, access to HUD-funded facilities, and harassment and violence when seeking shelter. Additionally, they examine evidence that exclusion from shelters on the basis of gender identity may cause harm to transgender and nonbinary individuals. Finally, they note the absence of data showing any unique risk of harm to cisgender women from the inclusion of transgender women in women’s shelters, or any need to relieve religious providers of the burden of nondiscriminatory shelter placement.