Separate spaces

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up next, protecting vulnerable women.

Later this month, the public comment period will close on a new policy proposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: The policy would keep men who identify as women out of women-only homeless shelters. 

While the proposed rule has faced severe criticism in the public comments section, experts and legal minds say it will provide much-needed safety to women who need care.

WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: In Anchorage, Alaska, Downtown Hope Center, a religious organization, provides shelter and resources to homeless people.

MIKAYLA CULBERTSON: They serve everyone. They provide meals, clothing, showers, and resources to everyone who walk through their doors daily.

That’s ADF, or Alliance Defending Freedom, attorney Mikayla Culbertson. ADF represented the religious organization after it ran into legal trouble in 2018 when it declined to provide shelter to a man identifying himself as a woman.

The man violated shelter admissions policies by showing up drunk and after check-in time had ended. The shelter declined to admit him, but did pay for a ride to the hospital since he was also injured. 

The city investigated the Center for alleged discrimination after the man claimed he was turned away based on gender identity. The city said that the Center needed to allow men who claimed they were women to stay in the parts of the shelter reserved for women.

After a year-long court battle, the city finally agreed that Downtown Hope Center could keep men out of women-only shelter facilities.

Now the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, aims to ensure all homeless shelters receiving government funding follow the same rules as Downtown Hope Center.

Culbertson explains:

CULBERTSON: So the proposed rule would remove the phrase "gender identity" from about 50 federal housing regulations, and it would restore biological sex as the standard.

HUD explained that its proposed regulations superseded any local laws that conflicted with it, and that any homeless shelters that didn’t comply would lose access to federal funding.

For homeless women, this provides much-needed protection.

CULBERTSON: It means that they can seek shelter knowing that they will not be forced to share intimate spaces with a man. Women deserve safety, privacy, and dignity. This proposed regulation gives shelters the clear authority to provide that.

But some homeless and housing-focused advocacy groups have criticized HUD’s proposed policy.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness says vulnerable individuals shouldn’t have to be subjected to invasive searches to determine their biological sex, searches that the group says could leave those people feeling demeaned, threatened, and traumatized.

But federal law says shelters may make “reasonable” requests find out someone’s sex, and other shelter directors say that process is pretty simple.

Bram Begonia is the CEO of the Bay Area Rescue Mission.

BRAM BEGONIA: One question. What were you at birth? It's just that simple, right?

Begonia says when someone lies, the truth tends to come out. 

When that happens, staff members move that person to a different part of the facility.

Begonia says there’s a long list of individuals that can complicate matters for shelter staff; registered sex offenders, people who repeatedly start fights, or individuals with ankle monitors.

But on the issue of separate-sex spaces, the new policy would make it easier for shelters to keep homeless women safe. It would also allow homeless shelters like Downtown Hope Center in Anchorage to stay loyal to their religious beliefs.

Public comment on the HUD policy ends later this month. After that, it’s up to the department to decide whether it will abandon the new policy, revise it, or implement it as proposed.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

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