HUD New York Office Hosts LGBT Summit in New York City

(l-r) John Rhea, Chairman, NYCHA; Jay Golden, Region II FHEO Director; Margarita Lopez, NYCHA Board Member; Mirza Orriols, HUD Acting RA; Jennifer Stoloff, HUD PD&R; John Trasviña, FHEO Assistant Secretary; and, Frank Vespa-Papaleo, FHEO Region II Enforcement Branch Chief and LGBT Coordinator

HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity John Trasviña ushered in a new era in housing rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community by proclaiming at HUD's first LGBT Summit in New York City that "There is no place in America for discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity." Close to 150 HUD employees, stakeholders, public housing authority employees, advocates, members of the legal community, and others participated in a day of training to learn about new LGBT housing rules that went into effect March 5, 2012.

Mr. Trasviña was joined by John Rhea, Chairman of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and Margarita Lopez, Board Member of NYCHA. HUD senior staff who participated in the Summit included Mirza Orriols, HUD Acting Regional Administrator; Jennifer Stoloff, Social Scientist Analyst in HQs PD&R; Jay Golden, Region II FHEO Director; and, Frank Vespa-Papaleo, FHEO Region II Enforcement Branch Chief and LGBT Coordinator.

Some of the topics discussed included: Fair Housing and HUD's new LGBT (Equal Access) Rule; Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH); Community Planning & Development; Public Housing and homelessness.

HUD's new LGBT rule requires equal access to housing and includes the following:

• A general equal access provision which requires housing that is funded by HUD or subject to a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to be made available without regard to actual or perceived sexual orientation;
  
  
• Clarification that the terms "family" and "household" as used in HUD programs include persons regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation; gender identity or marital status;
  
  
• Prohibition on owners and operators of HUD funded housing or housing insured by FHA from asking about an applicant's or occupant's sexual orientation or gender identity for the purpose of determining eligibility or otherwise making housing available; and
  
  
• Prohibition on FHA lenders from taking into account actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in determining the adequacy of a potential borrower's income.

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status (i.e., presence of children in the household). The Fair Housing Act does not specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited bases. However, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) person's experience with sexual orientation or gender identity housing discrimination may still be covered by the Fair Housing Act. In addition, housing providers that receive HUD funding, have loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as well as lenders insured by FHA, may be subject to HUD program regulations intended to ensure equal access of LGBT persons.

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