(Editor's note: This article contains original material as well a compilation of quotes obtained through news releases.)
BALTIMORE, Md. – A new federal rule being published this week will greatly increase protections against housing discrimination for the LGBT community.
Shaun Donovan, Secretary of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), made the announcement Saturday during the 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, a conference hosted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).
The new rule, which will go into effect 30 days after being published, makes several crucial changes to current housing and housing-related programs, including:
* Prohibiting owners and operators of HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing from discriminating against an applicant or occupant of a residence based on sexual orientation or gender identity;
* Prohibiting all lenders offering Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages from considering sexual orientation or gender identity in determining a borrower’s eligibility;
* Clarifying the definition of "family" to ensure that otherwise eligible participants in any HUD programs will not be excluded based on marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity.
“I am proud to announce a new Equal Access to Housing Rule that says clearly and unequivocally that LGBT individuals and couples have the right to live where they choose," Donovan told the conference attendees.
"If you are denying HUD housing to people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, actual or perceived, you're discriminating, you're breaking the law, and you will be held accountable. That's what equal access means, and that's what this rule is going to do."
The Obama Administration has previously clarified that people who face any housing discrimination based on gender identity or gender stereotypes can file complaints under the federal Fair Housing Act.
The NCLR has been one of the lead partners with HUD as it works to ensure access to fair and affordable housing for the LGBT community. NCLR drafted comments on behalf of more than 30 LGBT, civil rights and fair housing organizations that offered feedback on this new policy when it was initially proposed.
In December 2011, NCLR co-hosted the first-ever federal summit along with HUD and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on LGBT elder housing.
“This rule is truly historic for the LGBT community and the impact it will have on all of our lives cannot be overstated,” said Maya Rupert, NCLR federal policy director.
“Thanks to the remarkable efforts of the Obama administration, and especially HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Assistant Secretary John Trasviña and their staffs, LGBT people and their families will now enjoy critical protections from housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This will improve the lives of countless families and individuals across the country who no longer have to fear being denied housing because of who they are. We applaud HUD for its leadership and commitment to fairness and justice,” Rupert said.
The Human Rights Campaign, another partner in the process, also praised the new federal rules.
"The new regulations from HUD will help protect LGBT people and our families in one of the most fundamental aspects of life - finding and keeping a home," outgoing HRC President Joe Solmonese said. "This common sense action will help some of the most vulnerable people in our community in trying to make homes for themselves and their families."
As part of its Blueprint for Positive Change, HRC submitted more than 70 recommendations for executive action which would improve the lives of LGBT Americans to the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team. Since the administration began, HRC staff have met and communicated with numerous federal agencies on how to implement these policies. Addressing discrimination in federal housing programs was part of HRC's recommendations for HUD.
Officials at the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) said that the new regulations are beneficial to transgender Americans.
"This is a major and urgently needed advancement in basic protections for transgender people,” said Harper Jean Tobin, NCTE policy counsel.
“NCTE is calling on other federal departments to follow HUD's common-sense approach and use existing legal authority to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in the programs they fund and administer. We applaud Secretary Donovan and the Obama Administration for this much needed relief for transgender people," Tobin said.
Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE, said that Secretary Donovan lived up to his words.
"We are very pleased that, just as he said at NCTE's Awards Ceremony in November, HUD has clearly listened to our concerns with earlier drafts of the regulations and made them even stronger."
In announcing the draft rules early last year, HUD cited The National Transgender Discrimination Survey HERE and HERE and HERE conducted by NCTE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, showing that 19% of transgender and gender non-conforming people had been refused a home or apartment and 11% had been evicted because of their gender identity or expression. The study also showed that 19% of transgender people have been homeless at some point in their lives, and 29% of those had been turned away from homeless shelters and a majority were harassed when they could get in to a shelter.
