HUD Proposes Biological Sex Rules for Shelter Access

The Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a rule on April 28, 2026, that would base access to single-sex facilities in its programs on biological sex rather than gender identity, with public comments due by June 29, 2026.

The proposal affects individuals seeking services in HUD-funded programs that operate single-sex or sex-specific facilities, including temporary emergency shelters and other setups with shared sleeping quarters or bathrooms. Per the Federal Register notice, these programs serve vulnerable populations such as homeless individuals, with HUD's Continuum of Care program alone funding services for over 1.2 million people experiencing homelessness annually through grants to more than 3,000 local organizations nationwide.

The rule targets grant recipients, subrecipients, owners, operators, managers, and providers, enabling them to demand reasonable assurances and evidence of biological sex to ensure facility safety.

The existing HUD equal access regulations, established in prior years, include protections based on gender identity, allowing individuals to access facilities consistent with their self-identified gender. The proposed revisions would remove references to 'gender' and 'gender identity' from these regulations, replacing them with 'sex' defined as an individual's immutable biological classification as male or female, per the executive order cited in the notice.

If finalized, the changes would take effect after the comment period closes on June 29, 2026, and HUD reviews submissions, with no specific effective date set in the proposal.

The rule opens a 60-day public comment period ending June 29, 2026, requiring HUD to consider feedback before issuing a final rule, which could then face potential legal challenges in federal courts. Grant recipients in HUD programs would gain authority to implement sex verification processes, triggering updates to operational policies and training for staff in facilities nationwide.

This could lead to shifts in funding allocations if providers adjust services to comply, with HUD required to enforce the new standards in future grant cycles.

The proposal aligns with the Executive Order titled 'Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,' signed by President Donald Trump, as stated in the Federal Register document. HUD last revised its equal access rule in 2016 under the Obama administration to include gender identity protections.