In a recent White House blog post, Director of the Fair Housing Assistance Program at the Department of Housing and Urban Development Kenneth J. Carroll tried to paint a pretty face on the government's reaction to housing discrimination against LGBT people. And, truth be told, they have done a few good things.
But it often seems like a drop in the bucket, or spitting into the wind…especially when one considers that Carroll has been saying the same things for a couple of years now.
Notice that sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in that PSA? I thought that you might. The
Fair Housing Act of 1968, passed as
Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, one week before the assassination of Martin, specifically bars discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, handicap, or national origin (disability, and family status were added in a 1968 amendment to the act).
The Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968) introduced meaningful federal enforcement mechanisms. It outlawed:
- Refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, handicap or national origin.
- Discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin in the terms, conditions or privilege of the sale or rental of a dwelling.
- Advertising the sale or rental of a dwelling indicating preference of discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin.
- Coercing, threatening, intimidating, or interfering with a person's enjoyment or exercise of housing rights based on discriminatory reasons or retaliating against a person or organization that aids or encourages the exercise or enjoyment of fair housing rights.
Although a bit outdated, the Wikipedia entry on Housing Discrimination (US) includes:
Furthermore, in all states, same-sex couples are unable to apply to Public Housing as a family unit, thus decreasing their chances at being accepted into the program.
If it’s not explicitly included, it’s explicitly excluded.
--Robin McHaelen, executive director of True Colors Sexual Minority Youth and Family Services in recent testimony before the New Haven, CT Board of Aldermen
Carroll acknowledges that he has read the reports: 19% of transgender and gender non-conforming persons reported having been refused a house or an apartment because of gender identity and 19% report having been homeless for the same reason. That's not even to mention the necessity some transfolk find of trading sex for a place to sleep at night.
It's called survival sex.
So what has HUD done?
It requires HUD grant recipients to comply with state and local laws prohibiting housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. That's okay if you live in California, Colorado, Connecticut*, Delaware*, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland*, Massachusetts*, Minnesota, New Hampshire*, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York*, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin*, or the District of Columbia or in one of the municipalities that may have passed protections as New Haven, CT is currently trying to do…unless you are transgender or gender non-conforming and live in one of the *-ed states.
HUD recognized that, under the Fair Housing Act prohibition of sex discrimination, it has authority to pursue complaints from LGBT persons alleging housing discrimination because of non-conformity with gender stereotypes. HUD accepted and proceeded with enforcement efforts on 114 such complaints, about three times more than in the prior two years.
Not an entirely novel approach, but one which has been shot down in court enough times to be wary of. Courts have been quite specific that the words gender and sex are not synonymous.
Carroll touts HUD's new webpage on LGBT housing discrimination as one of the major accomplishments. It comes with this snazzy graphic:
Another touted accomplishment is the "initiation of the first nationwide study of LGBT housing discrimination that will provide national data on the nature and extent of housing discrimination against same sex couples". Now we've been hearing about the coming of this survey since 2009, but have yet to see any evidence of its existence, let alone being able to participate in it.
And let's not forget:
HUD published a rule (pdf) that proposes regulatory changes to further ensure LGBT equal access, including clarification that a "family," which is the term used to define persons eligible for HUD-funded programs, includes persons regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. HUD anticipates publishing the final version of this rule by the end of the year.
Something's coming...
Lastly, we have the Live Free campaign which was initiated earlier this year and which sexual orientation and gender identity have apparently recently been added to. Supposedly there are digital videos, podcasts, Facebook postings and print ads to rise awareness of the problem.
Viewing the print ads can be done here (pdf). The top one is referred to as the "female flyer" and the bottom one as the "male flyer".
Carroll calls for additional ideas to be send to LGBTfairhousing@hud.gov .
My personal bestest idea would be to pass a federal law to protect us.
Like that is going to happen.