









































How Social Discrimination 
& Housing (Un)Affordability 
Causes Gender-Expansive 
Homelessness and Policy  
Recommendations to Ensure 
that Everyone is Housed

Transgender, gender non-binary, gender 
non-singular and gender-questioning 
people (gender-expansive) in the United 
States are more likely than their cisgen-
der counterparts to experience housing 
precarity and homelessness. While this 
disparity results from structural and 
individual discrimination that limits 
access to economic, social and political 
capital, it also results from a massive gap 
in the amount of affordable and adequate 
permanent housing available to all low-in-
come members of U.S. society. As a per-
son who experienced housing instability 
and unsheltered homelessness prior to the 
COVID-19 pandemic, as well as discrim-
ination from the mental health system 
as a result of my gender-identity during 
COVID-19, this policy brief is informed 
by my lived experience. 

While I often felt shame and personal 
responsibility for my situation, I came to 
realize that my lived experience reflects 
structural inequities and gaps in the U.S. 
housing system.  

Often, when people are unable to rent 
or own permanent housing due to the 
excessive and increasing cost of living 
in many parts of the United States, they 
rely on the emergency shelter system. 
This system has a diligent and attentive 
frontline workforce. There is also abun-
dant evidence demonstrating that safe and 
affirming emergency housing can help 
stabilize mental health, physical health 
and financial challenges. Nevertheless, 
there is a systemic lack of funding to 
adequately support the shelter workforce 
and keep up with the need for emergency 
shelter beds. 

Compounded by inadequate anti-discrimi-
nation rules, the emergency shelter system 
does not serve the needs of low-income, 
gender-expansive people. Using my lived 
experience as inspiration, this policy brief 
will outline these gaps in emergency 
housing services and their specific impact 
on gender-expansive people. It will then 
point to existing legislation and shelter re-
forms that could help alleviate these gaps.

Designer
nick asbell 
IU Indianapolis

Office of 
community  
engagement staff
liz m. terry 
IU Indianapolis
 

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

6

Associate editors
william b. crow 
Lehigh University

carolyn gentle-genitty 
Indiana University

jim grim 
Community Engaged Scholar

rita hodges 
University of Pennsylvania

natasha howard 
Morehouse College

terri jett 
Butler University

brendan maxcy 
IU Indianapolis

eric kyere 
IU Indianapolis

virgil gregory 
IU Indianapolis

mary price 
Forum on Education Abroad

carol rogers 
IU Indianapolis

javiette vashan samuel 
Univeristy of Tennessee, 
Knoxville

sarah stanlick 
Worcester Polytechnic 
Institute

ellen szarleta 
IU, Northwest

laura weaver 
Purdue Doctoral Student

Online journal 
development
ted polley 
IU Indianapolis
 

Editors
khaula murtadha 
IU Indianapolis 

andrea copeland 
IU Indianapolis

Author
DANIEL SOUCY



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7 VO L .  5,  I S S U E  2

Trends: 

Gender-Expansive People Are More Likely to Expe-
rience Homelessness Due to a Limited and Exclusive 
Permanent and Emergency Housing System

Prior to 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD) did not track gender-expansive 
homelessness. However, independent research prior to 
2019 and HUD data since 2019 clearly demonstrates 
that gender-expansive people are far more likely than 
their cisgender counterparts to experience homelessness 
and, in particular, unsheltered homelessness. While 
unsheltered homelessness has increased for all genders 
since 2019, Figure 1 demonstrates that gender-expansive 
people are much more likely to be forced to reside in a 
car, tent, abandoned building or other location “unfit for 
human habitation”. 

These trends result from structural factors. Gender-ex-
pansive people are more likely to live without access to 
stable employment. They are also more likely to expe-
rience discrimination from their social networks. The 
consequences of these forms of social isolation are espe-
cially prevalent among youth. Gender-expansive youth 

experience housing instability and homelessness at rates 
twice as high as cisgender youth. Figure 2 illustrates that 
nearly 40 percent of surveyed transgender youth reported 

experiencing housing instability or homelessness during 
their lives. Leading causes of homelessness are bullying, 
harassment and discrimination that make it extremely 
difficult for gender-expansive youth to access education 
and economic opportunities.

 

Note: (HUD Exchange 2023)

Figure 1:

  While unsheltered home-
lessness has increased for all 

genders since 2019 (HUD Exchange, 
2023), Figure 1 demonstrates that gen-

der-expansive people are much more 
likely to be forced to reside in a car, tent, 
abandoned building or other location “un-
fit for human habitation



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lack of affordable housing 
causes homelessness:
Housing precarity amongst low-income households has 
increased due to an affordable housing crisis across the 
United States. Households that HUD defines as ‘very 
low-income’ (those households making less than 50 
percent of their area’s median income) and ‘extremely 
low income’ (those households making less than 30 
percent of the area median income) are most likely to 
suffer from this shortage. Nevertheless, even wealthier 
households increasingly pay more than one-half of their 
income for rent or live in severely inadequate conditions 
and therefore also meet HUD’s definition of worst-case 
housing needs.

Methods to improve housing stability include Project 
Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) to fund designated 
units for low-income households and Housing Choice 
Vouchers which offer assistance to families with low 
income renting in the private market. However, due to 
budget shortfalls and poor management, these safety nets 
are both notoriously inaccessible to low-income residents 
and prioritize access to cisgender families at the exclu-
sion of gender-expansive people.

shelters remain unsafe and-
unavailable for gender-expan-
sive people:
Without affordable housing, there is a greater need for 
emergency shelter assistance, especially for gender-ex-
pansive people and people of color. Just as permanent 
affordable housing is not meeting demand, neither are 
emergency shelters.

At the same time, emergency services like shelters and 
rapid rehousing programs are inaccessible to gender-ex-
pansive people. One study found that 85 percent of gen-
der-expansive people experiencing homelessness did not 
seek shelter due to fear of mistreatment. Of those who 
did, 41 percent were denied access and 44 percent report-
ed mistreatment (O'Neill & Wilson, 2020). Given that 
people of color also experience individual and systemic 
housing discrimination as a result of their race (National 
Low Income Housing Coalition, 2021), gender-expan-
sive people of color are even less likely to have access to 
stable housing. 

Note: Rates of Youth Homelessness by Gender in 2022, The Trevor Project, 2022 

Figure 2:



VO L .  5,  I S S U E  29

Policy Considerations: Lessons from the COVID-19 
Pandemic and Current Funding Proposals

 
the eviction protection 
program: 
The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that the federal 
government has mechanisms to reduce housing insta-
bility and homelessness for gender-expansive people. 
Specifically, during the pandemic, the treasury distribut-
ed an unprecedented $46.5 billion in emergency rental 
assistance to states to prevent low-income people from 
losing their housing. The Office of Evaluation Services 
(OES) reported that people of color and women benefited 
from this assistance in large part because state housing 
authorities were required to promote racial equity and 
target assistance to these groups (National Low Income 
Housing Coalition, 2021). Targeting federal assistance 
to gender-expansive people could similarly disrupt the 
inequities described previously.  
 

 

gender-inclusive 
shelter access:
Gender-expansive people also suffer from state and local 
policies that empower private housing providers and 
non-profit shelters to discriminate against gender-expan-
sive people. During the pandemic, however, many states 
utilized hotel rooms and other single occupancy units. 
Increasing rental assistance and non-congregate shelters 
that provide people of all genders more space and access 
demonstrates how funding and policy changes can ensure 
that gender-expansive people feel safe in their housing 
environment.  

Additionally, lawmakers must ensure that HUD’s Equal 
Access Rule remains in place. The Equal Access Rule 
is a regulation which prohibits discrimination against 
LGBTQ people in HUD-funded shelter services. Crucial-
ly, it requires that transgender individuals be allowed to 
use the dorm and bathroom facilities that align with their 
gender identity. Conservative lawmakers have attempted 
to eliminate this rule when allocating funds to HUD . 
This would make it even more difficult and even more 
unsafe for gender-expansive individuals to seek  
emergency housing. 
 

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Note: Development & Research 2023

Figure 3:



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what is the proposed budget 
allocation for 2024? 
In its fiscal year 2024 draft spending bill, the U.S. 
Senate’s Committee on Appropriation’s Subcommittee 
on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development 
(THUD) increased its allocation to HUD by $8.26 billion 
(Appropriations, 2023). Meanwhile, the House spend-
ing bill proposed an increase of just $2.91 billion and 
reduced HUD grant programs—a critical mechanism for 
improving low-income communities’ ability to increase 
affordable housing supply —by $1.733 billion. This is 28 
percent lower than fiscal year 2023.

Researchers estimate that Congress needs to increase 
HUD’s funding by at least $13 billion to keep up with 
inflation and rising housing prices. 

Implications: 
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and research by 
housing scholars have made abundantly clear that indi-
vidual identifiers like race, gender and income exasperate 
homelessness, especially amongst gender-expansive 
people. However, at its core, homelessness is a housing 
problem. It is evident that the United States is experienc-
ing an affordable housing crisis resulting from decades 
of inadequate funding. The solution is simple, albeit not 
politically expedient: Congress needs to greatly exceed 
previous funding increases for safe and affordable per-
manent housing and immediate short-term opportunities 
for emergency shelter.  
 

ensure federal discrimination 
protection in housing and 
shelter
As previously mentioned, these shelters need to provide 
specific support to gender-expansive people and gen-
der-expansive people of color who have traditionally 
been excluded from permanent and emergency housing 
programs. There also needs to be federal protections 
against discrimination in these settings. Without pro-
tections in both privately- and federally-funded shelter 
settings, gender-expansive people will continue to face 
barriers when seeking a place to stay, and will be forced 
into unsheltered settings. 

increase affordable housing:
States and localities that have looked at their housing 
market data and increased affordable housing supply 
and targeted assistance to low-income households have 
had success in reducing housing instability and home-
lessness. Increasing affordable housing through federal 
policy will benefit all residents across geographic and 
demographic differences by creating a more equitable, 
secure and stable economy.

Gender-expansive people have effectively advocated 
for our health, economic and social safety for decades. 
We have also created alternative support systems like 
group homes and mutual aid networks to survive in the 
face of structural hostility. It is well past time to increase 
affordable housing and shelter for gender-expansive 
people, as well as affirm anti-discrimination protections 
within these systems. This will create a safer, equitable 
and inclusive society that will support all low-income 
households across the United States who have felt the 
stress and pain of housing insecurity and homelessness.  
 

gender-expansive people need 
affordable housing and safe 
shelters now: 
- Future funding bills must dramatically increase housing 
affordability through  Housing Choice Vouchers, public 
housing units and emergency rental assistance. 

- Increases in funding must prioritize equity. Emergency 
housing organizations should institute non-discrimination 
protections and allow gender-expansive people to choose 
their housing environment based on their gender identity. 

- At the same time, lawmakers should also allow HUD to 
increase emergency shelter beds specifically for gen-
der-expansive people. 

- The design and implementation of new permanent and 
emergency housing programs must include the voices of 
gender-expansive people and people of color with lived 
experience of homelessness. 
 
Daniel Soucy, a researcher and advocate who identifies 
as Queer, white and a person with lived expertise of 
homelessness. 



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