New Housing Regulation to Protect LGBT People From Discrimination
The U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s new rule, Equal Access to Housing in HUD Program — Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, aims to “ensur[e] that HUD’s housing programs are open, not to some, not to most, but to all.”
The new regulation goes into effect 30 days after final publishing.
On its most basic level, the rule requires owners and operators of HUD-assisted housing and FHA-insured mortgage lenders to make housing/mortgages available without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity of an applicant.
One interesting aspect of the new rule is that it not only protects against FHA-insured lenders making lending decisions based on actual sexual orientation and gender identity, but also on perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Meaning, a person does not have to be LGBT for protection under this rule — the lender only has to believe the person to be LGBT and determine eligibility or alter existing terms for mortgages.
You can read HUD’s press release and the final rule here. Thoughts?