We must maintain shelter protections for our most vulnerable

We agree with Sen. Lisa Murkowski: People should not live in fear of being discriminated against because of their LGBTQ+ status. As community members and service providers committed to providing safe shelter for vulnerable people throughout Alaska, we know that houseless transgender and gender-expansive people are more likely to be without any shelter options.

Nationally, nearly 30% of houseless transgender individuals reported being turned away from a shelter due to their transgender status, as indicated in the Housing and Urban Development’s Point-in-Time count. Violence and discrimination impact our gender expansive and transgender siblings in ways that contribute to houselessness and perpetuate instability, creating barriers to accessing shelter and essential services. According to a recent study from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America, LGBTQ+ young people are 120% more likely to experience houselessness than non-LGBTQ+ youth. On the heels of rollbacks in access to health care for transgender people, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed to cut key non-discrimination protections in sheltering systems for transgender and gender expansive people, a life threatening change for our most vulnerable population. 

In Alaska, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funded systems, which support people who have nowhere else to turn, make up a significant number of the sheltering programs. Policies that explicitly affirm and safely welcome transgender people are limited and unequally implemented. Protections for houseless transgender Alaskans have been heavily reliant on the 2016 HUD Equal Access rule. It has been an essential step toward ensuring safe and equal access to shelters for people in need. In Alaska, many transgender community members are already unable to access privately supported shelters due to the policies of those systems; rolling back this rule removes the few supports that do exist for transgender people. If the already limited access for gender-expansive people is removed, as we know, people will literally freeze to death.

The United States Supreme Court recently affirmed that LGBTQ+ people are protected from employment discrimination and that discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation is sex discrimination. This historic decision says that LGBTQ+ people are, and should be, protected from discrimination under Title VII (the United States Federal sex discrimination law). Denying transgender people access to shelter is discrimination that, for some, could mean a death sentence. 

The harm, and risk of harm, that LGBTQ+ people face everyday is frightening. In addition, Black, brown, and Indigenous peoples of color in our state face additional and intersecting barriers. We recognize the ways these rollbacks will impact Black, Brown and Indigenous Transgender Alaskans differently than white transgender people.We must address the racism that perpetuates discrimination and violence against Black people, Indigenous peoples and all people of color, including those who are LGBTQ+, even when such discrimination and violence are formally prohibited by law. While the data in Alaska is essentially undocumented, the demographics of young unhoused people who turn to Alaskan providers for support is reflective of the national experience: transgender people of color remain our most vulnerable community members, and the resources are getting even more scarce, while violence escalates. The HUD equal access protections must remain in place, and we call on all of our community members to advocate and support protections and provisions within our sheltering systems for LGBTQ+ houseless people. 

The people of Alaska demand that no person in this country should lose access to a safe shelter. We call on HUD to do the right thing and maintain this protection because it aligns with what the majority of people across this nation believe: no one should face discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. You can personally make a difference by sending a comment to HUD about why safe shelter for all people is essential, call Senator Lisa Mukowski and ask her to speak out against the HUD rule, and call your state representative about supporting a statewide Non-Discrimination Bill. 

Aria Phillips and Lillian Lennon are board member of LGBTQ+ homelessness nonprofit Choosing Our Roots. Jess Limbird is a community investor in Choosing Our Roots. Hayden Nevill represents Gender Pack, a gender-expansive support group in Interior Alaska. Samuel Ohana is a board member of Transgender Leadership Alaska. Will Bean is a community organizer for Native Movement. Candace Bell is a member of the steering community Christians for Equality. Laura Carpenter is the executive director of Identity, Inc. Rose O’Hara-Jolley serves as Alaska field manager for Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawai’i. Jasmine Boyle is executive director of Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness. Brian Wilson is executive director of Alaska Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

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