Legal Defense Fund
June 29, 2026
Regulations Division
Office of General Counsel
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street SW, Room 10276
Washington, DC 20410-0500
Transmitted via regulations.gov
RE: Docket No. 91 FR 22779, Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions
To Whom it May Concern:
The Legal Defense Fund (“LDF”) submits this comment opposing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (“HUD”) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions” on behalf of itself and the undersigned civil rights and racial justice organizations.1 LGBTQ+ people, particularly Black and Latino LGBTQ+ people, experience homelessness and housing insecurity at disproportionately high rates compared to the general population.2 The proposed rule, however, would permit federal housing programs to exclude eligible families and individuals based on “actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity” and permit invasive inquiries into gender identity in determining eligibility for certain federal housing programs. Additionally, the proposed rule removes guidance for housing providers about their duty to serve all people, creating confusion about their federal legal obligations and encouraging discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The proposed rule also seeks to preempt conflicting state and local laws permitting or requiring equal access to sex-segregated spaces in certain programs funded by HUD, like emergency shelters, in accordance with a person’s gender identity. If the proposed rule is enacted, it will have a devastating impact on the LGBTQ+ populations’ ability to access federal housing programs. Yet HUD does not provide a reasoned basis for repealing the current Equal Access Rule. LDF and the undersigned groups strongly urge HUD to rescind this proposed rulemaking and continue to enforce fair housing protections for LGBTQ+ people.
Founded in 1940 by Thurgood Marshall, LDF is the nation’s premier racial justice law organization. LDF’s mission has always been transformative: to achieve racial justice, equality, and an inclusive society. Since its inception, LDF has worked to increase fair housing opportunities for Black communities. Some of LDF’s early victories in the Supreme Court were won through Shelley v. Kramer, 334 U.S. 1 (1948), and McGhee v. Sipes, 334 U.S. 1 (1948), which held state enforcement of racially-restrictive covenants violated the Equal Protection Clause. In the decades since those victories, LDF and our civil right partners have continued to challenge public and private policies and practices that deny Black people safe and quality housing and free from discrimination.
1 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Proposed Rule: Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Revisions, (April 28, 2026), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/28/2026-08244/equal-access-to-housing-in-hud-programs-revisions#citation-13-p22781
2 Kathryn K. O’Neill, et al, Homeless Shelter Access Among Transgender Adults, UC Berkley School of Law, (November 2020), https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-homeless-shelter-access/
