The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law unveiled research results on the heels of news that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ) released a proposed rule that aims to revise the Equal Access rulewhich requires HUD-funded housing services to be provided without discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The new rule, if finalized, would allow homeless shelters to deny transgender people access to single-sex and sex-segregated shelters that align with their gender identity.
"Poverty and homelessness disproportionately impact transgender people, particularly transgender people of color and youth. This rule, if finalized, would negatively impact an already vulnerable population during a period of economic downturn," said Luis Vasquez, Renberg Law Fellow at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, in a statement.
Research results show:
LGBTQ youth make up 22 percent of homeless youth;
Eight percent of transgender adults report experiencing homelessness in the past year, compared to 3 percent of non-transgender LGB people and 1 percent of cisgender, heterosexual adults;
Nearly 30 percent of transgender people are living in poverty, significantly higher than almost all other cisgender groups of people; and
Transgender people who reported that they had been denied equal treatment in the past year because they are transgender were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who had not been denied equal treatment ( 13.4 percent compared to 6.3 percent ).