A federal agency is seeking input from the LGBT community to assist in its efforts in analyzing housing discrimination against sexual minorities.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a Web site last week that allows users to leave comments on the design of a planned national study on the issue, and earlier this month, HUD held public hearings in San Francisco, Chicago and New York City to explore instances of housing discrimination in the community and gather information for the pending study.
The Fair Housing Act does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and last fall President Obama directed HUD to undertake the first national study to examine the prevalence of and safeguards against the issue.
In a statement released last week, Dr. Raphael Bostic, HUD’s assistant secretary for policy development and research, said the department wants to ensure the LGBT community’s voice is fully included in the study.
“It is critical that as we embark on this historic discrimination study that we hear from those who may have been denied housing based on their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Bostic said. “The comments we received in our town-hall meetings and those we will gather from this new Web site will help inform how we might test for housing discrimination in the sale or rental of housing based on LGBT status.”
Rue Landau, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, noted that while it is illegal in Philadelphia to discriminate against LGBT people in housing, such occurrences do still exist.
“A lot of neighborhoods in Philadelphia are becoming more welcoming to the LGBT community, but for LGBT renters and owners there are definitely pockets of the city where it’s still not safe for them,” she said. “We absolutely still do receive filings for instances of discrimination, and I think there are others that may not even make it to our office.”
Landau said she’s seen situations that have ranged from slurs and name-calling to landlords refusing to allow gay tenants to add their partners’ names to the lease — incidents she believes are far more prevalent in jurisdictions without a nondiscrimination law.
“While we have protections for LGBT housing here in Philadelphia, we don’t in most parts of the state and the country, so this study is fantastic news,” she said. “It needs to be protected across the entire country.”
House Bill 300, which was approved by the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee last March and awaits a vote by the Appropriations Committee, seeks to prohibit LGBT discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.
In addition to HUD’s efforts, Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7th Dist.) recently submitted a bill that seeks to prohibit discrimination in the housing sector against LGBT people.
The HUD comment site can be accessed at http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/LGBT_Discrimination_Study/comments.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].