By Gabriella Velasco and Melanie Langness, Housing Matters, June 24, 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting the lives of people who are socially and politically marginalized. The struggles faced by LGBTQ communities, including high rates of homelessness, significant health disparities, high rates of poverty, and increased likelihood of violent victimization compared with heterosexual and cisgender peers, are amplified by current socioeconomic strains.
For Black LGBTQ people, these vulnerabilities are compounded by the violence of anti-Black racism and white supremacy, urging specific attention to the effects of structural racism in housing policy during a public health crisis like COVID-19.
On June 12, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a new rule that would overturn 2016 transgender nondiscrimination protections and allow single-sex homeless shelters to discriminate against transgender people by making placement and accommodation decisions based on a person’s assigned sex at birth rather than their gender identity.
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