U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) led 28 U.S. senators in a letter to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, urging him to reinstate resources that protect LGBTQ people from housing discrimination. These resources, designed to help housing providers comply with HUD’s nondiscrimination rules, were removed from HUD’s website in recent months.
“It is concerning that HUD apparently removed these tools from its website, which are meant to assist grantees in meeting their underlying obligations under the law,” the senators wrote. “Without these training resources, housing service providers will face additional challenges in trying to understand how best to meet the needs of their clients. The guidance resources that were withdrawn or removed are critical to ensuring nondiscrimination rules are fully and faithfully implemented.”
LGBTQ people across the country face unique housing challenges, with 40 percent of LGBTQ youth representing all youth experiencing homelessness and with nearly 1 in 3 transgender adults who report having experienced homelessness at some point in their lives. According to 2016 HUD data, Nevada has the highest rate of unsheltered, unaccompanied homeless youth in the nation, making guidance for Nevada housing providers especially important. The resources that were withdrawn from HUD’s website provide critical guidelines and information to ensure that housing providers comply with HUD policies that protect LGBTQ people.
