LIVESTREAM: Congressional Hearing on Housing Protections for Transgender People

By Ayana Byrd Oct 29, 2019

One in three transgender people in the United States has experienced homelessness in their lifetime. In response to the growing crisis—one that is being exacerbated by the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to allow shelters that receive federal money to discriminate against trans people—Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy for the National Center for Transgender Equality, will testify before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on Tuesday (October 29).

Tobin’s testimony will include the following prepared statement:

rnt

Housing and lending discrimination against transgender people, including discrimination in access to emergency shelter and other critical safety net programs, remains widespread and pervasive. Together with other social and economic barriers, this problem drives lower rates of home ownership and staggering rates of homelessness among transgender Americans. To date, many states and localities have adopted explicit nondiscrimination protections, as has HUD for programs it funds, and courts have long recognized that the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act also prohibit anti-transgender bias. However, the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine both those statutory protections and the HUD Equal Access Rule are deeply concerning and threaten to roll back progress in advancing housing opportunity.


The hearing starts at 10 a.m. ET. Watch the livestream above.