By: Sarah Brown – Director of Communications
LGBTQIA+ Rights & Housing Accessibility
A May 2023 press release submitted by Human Rights Campaign cites a record number of anti LGBTQI+ bills that have been sweeping across the country this year. Of the more than 500 bills introduced, at least 70 have been passed into law1. These numbers seem to be misaligned with findings from the 2021 American Values Atlas which showed support of LGBTQ+ rights on the rise across the country with 79% of respondents from GA supporting laws that protect members of the LGBTQI+ community2. As one of more than a dozen states enacting anti- LGBTQI+ legislation, GA has passed legislation over the last two years restricting access to gender affirming care and high school sports to youth whose gender identities do not match the gender they were assigned at birth. This is not by coincidence, but rather the result of a concerted effort from groups that have launched a national parents’ rights campaign to “protect children” by targeting primarily school policies on gender identity and how race is taught in schools.3 These groups provide model legislation and legal support to defend any challenges to these measures becoming law. It is no secret that historically, queer and trans folks have been disparately impacted by laws which exist to further marginalize, stigmatize and even cause harm to members of the LGBTQI+ community. It has been estimated that roughly 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+4 and gender-based violence continues to be the main driver of homelessness amongst women and children5. When high rates of poverty are coupled with housing insecurity and discrimination, survivors are forced to make the impossible decision to either return to an abusive situation or live on the street. According to a 2023 report published by NRCDV, the multiple, often intersecting forms of oppression experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community including anti-LGBTQI+ bias by service providers- create barriers that limit LGBTQ+ survivors’ access to housing resources and options.6
Know Your Rights
There are now laws that are designed to protect people in the LGBTQI+ community from housing discrimination-including temporary shelter. In 2021, Following an executive order from the Biden Administration, the US Dept of Housing and Urban Development added sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes under the Fair Housing Act. This means that if a person believes they were discriminated against by a landlord while attempting to access housing (including fair market and government subsidized housing) they have a right of action (meaning they can sue) based on the conditions of the Fair Housing Act7. Under VAWA, a person attempting to access shelter should not be asked to “prove” their gender by medical or legal documents, nor should they be asked about their body parts. They have the right to ask for an individual accommodation to provide greater privacy or safety, but a program cannot isolate nor separate a person based on identifying as transgender.
Similarly, programs can only segregate based on gender if it is necessary to effectively serve survivors. If there is a program designed just for women, similar services must also be given to any men who seek help. Though not directly related to housing, it should be noted that in 2020, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in the case of Bostock vs Clayton County in favor of the plaintiff who is based here in GA. The decision held that it is prohibited to discriminate against a person based on sexual orientation or gender identity9. The economic implications of this ruling go beyond just safeguarding employment, but have economic implications for those who seek to remain free from violence as economic precarity is the number one factor involved in survivors deciding to return to abusive situations. It is therefore fitting that on June 15th this year we acknowledged LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Day to raise awareness about the lack of wage gap data in LGBTQIA+ communities and challenge a system that historically devalues the labor of queer folks.
Impact
The impact that anti- LGBTQI+ bills and debates have on LGBTQI+ youth cannot be overstated. A 2022 survey by the Trevor Project found that two- thirds of LGBTQ+ youths reported that debates about anti-trans legislation have had negative impacts on their mental health. While 42% of the nearly 35,000 LGBTQ+ youths surveyed and over half of trans and nonbinary youths- seriously considered suicide within the prior year10. Not only do queer and trans folks experience higher rates of violence from family members, but the combination of family violence and housing insecurity results in LGBTQI+ youth in particular relying heavily on unhealthy/violent relationships for survival11.
It is important to note that the systemic barriers to accessing safe and affordable housing in GA go beyond just historically resilient and marginalized communities, but according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, across the state of GA there is a severe shortage of affordable and available housing for extremely low income renters, 77% of whom are extremely cost-burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing.12 As it stands, GA is one of 25 states that do not allow rent control. Meanwhile, rent prices have spiked since before COVID with GA seeing the 6th largest increase in fair market rent in the country.13
Solutions
In the most recent report published by NRCDV, they posit several solutions to improving access to safe housing including, but not limited to: federal non-defense, discretionary resources to be used flexibly in communities; wide dissemination of research findings on best practice housing models that have been proven to improve survivor access to housing; increase funding supports for culturally specific programs; broadening the definition of eligible family members to increase the likelihood of survivors remaining housed within family networks that extend beyond biological family14.
The National Low-Income Housing Coalition suggests expanding the amount of affordable housing resources in the federal budget, reform the low income housing tax credit to support the people with the greatest need, create a permanent, emergency rental assistance fund to prevent evictions and homelessness, and strengthen rental protections15.
Footnotes
- Axios, The Forces Behind anti-trans bills across the US, March 31, 2023. https://www.axios.com/2023/03/31/anti-trans-bills-2023-america
- PRRI, 2021. Competing Visions of America: Findings from American Values Survey https://www.prri.org/research/competing-visions-of-america-an-evolving-identity-or-a-culture-under-attack/
- NBC News, March 20, 2022, 6:00 AM EDT) By Matt Lavietes and Elliott Ramos https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/nearly-240-anti-lgbtq-bills-filed-2022-far-targeting-trans-people-rcna20418
- https://truecolorsunited.org/our-issue/
- https://safehousingpartnerships.org/
- Learning from Lived Experiences, NRCDV 2023 chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://safehousingpartnerships.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Learning_from_Lived_Experiences_policy_brief.pdf
- HUD Exchange https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/fair-housing/lgbtqia-fair-housing-toolkit/introduction/#:~:text=The%20Fair%20Housing%20Act%2C%2042,legal%20custody)%2C%20and%20disability.
- National Center for Transgender Equity: Know Your Rights https://transequality.org/know-your-rights/survivors-of-violence
- Bostock Vs. Clayton County Supreme Court Decision chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf
- NBC News, March 20, 2022, 6:00 AM EDT) By Matt Lavietes and Elliott Ramos https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/nearly-240-anti-lgbtq-bills-filed-2022-far-targeting-trans-people-rcna20418
- Learning from Lived Experiences, NRCDV 2023 chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://safehousingpartnerships.org/sites/default/files/2023-06/Learning_from_Lived_Experiences_policy_brief.pdf
- National Low Income Housing Coalition . (https://nlihc.org/housing-needs-by-state/georgia).
- Metro Atlanta CEO 2022 http://metroatlantaceo.com/news/2022/12/georgia-sees-6th-largest-increase-fair-market-rent-us/?utm_source=metroatlantaceo&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss