Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced Thursday that his department won’t condition funding for homeless shelters and other facilities based on whether they accommodate someone’s “gender identity.”
“I am directing the HUD staff to halt any pending or future enforcement actions related to HUD’s 2016 equal access rule, which in essence tied housing programs, shelters and other facilities funded by HUD, to quote, gender identity,” Turner told reporters at a press conference.
“We are carrying out the mission laid out by President Trump on January 20, when he signed an executive order to restore biological truth to the federal government,” he added.
Turner was chosen by Trump to lead the beleaguered department. AFP via Getty Images“This means recognizing there are only two sexes, male and female. It’s time to get rid of all the far-left gender ideology.”
Under then-President Barack Obama in 2016, HUD had published a rule granting “equal access” to homeless shelters and other facilities that receive federal funds, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The rule authorized money only for facilities — particularly those that are single-sex or sex-segregated — that accommodated transgender persons seeking their services.
Critics have said the Obama-era rule forced women into uncomfortable living situations by having to share shelter space with biological males.
Proponents have pushed back that it ended discrimination against transgender people who were denied access to some shelters based on their perceived gender.
President Trump, in his first week in the Oval Office, signed a series of executive actions stating the “immutable biological classification” of Americans “as either male or female.”
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner was fast at work after being confirmed. HUD.govThe orders are meant to help preserve single-sex bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams.
The first Trump administration had scrapped the Obama rule in order to allow recipients of HUD funds to not violate their religious beliefs, as many faith-based groups run emergency shelters for the homeless.
The 45th president’s administration also required transgender persons to be presented with options for other shelters that could house them when being turned away from those that had strict, sex-segregated spaces.
The newly confirmed HUD chief also said at Thursday’s press conference that officials were “working on a DOGE task force” to “maximize” the department’s efficiency.
“There is more to come, but as I’ve said before, we’re going to take inventory of all of HUD’s programs and ensure every dollar that goes out of the door is advancing HUD’s mission, which is to provide quality, affordable homes.”
Turner, 52, got to work right away at HUD headquarters on Thursday in announcing the rule change after having been confirmed by the Senate the day before in a bipartisan vote.
