Comment Submitted by City of Tucson

The City of Tucson strongly opposes HUD's proposed changes to the 2016 Equal Access Rule. The City, which serves as the public housing authority administering federally assisted housing programs for Tucson and Pima County, is acutely aware of the impacts of the proposed rule. This change is deeply concerning as it would dismantle critical protections for transgender and gender-diverse individuals seeking emergency shelter and other qualifying CPD-assisted facilities. HUD should strengthen access to safe housing, not weaken it. Rather than improving safety or program administration, the proposed rule would create new barriers to housing, place vulnerable individuals at greater risk, and undermine HUD's mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities. Shelter is often the last line of protection for people in crisis. Requiring transgender individuals to access facilities that do not align with their gender identity exposes them to increased risks of harassment, intimidation, and physical or sexual violence. Faced with those risks, many will choose to avoid shelter and other CPD-assisted programs altogether, increasing unsheltered homelessness and leaving people in even more dangerous circumstances. On the streets, they face heightened risks of exploitation, trafficking, violence, and long-term trauma at a time when they are most in need of protection. The proposal also permits providers to require documentary or physical evidence of a person's sex before granting access. This is both impractical and harmful. People experiencing homelessness frequently lose identification, birth certificates, and other records during housing crises. Requiring shelter staff to evaluate personal documents or make subjective judgments based on appearance creates an intrusive, degrading process that is inconsistent with trauma-informed care and discourages people from seeking life-saving services. In addition, the proposed rule provides little guidance regarding the qualifications, training, or professional standards expected of staff responsible for making these highly sensitive determinations. The absence of clear, uniform training requirements increases the likelihood of inconsistent implementation across providers and places frontline staff in the difficult position of making decisions involving privacy, safety, and legal compliance without adequate preparation. Such ambiguity creates unnecessary administrative burdens, increases the potential for liability, and undermines confidence in the fairness and consistency of program administration. The proposal also raises significant concerns regarding participant confidentiality and privacy. Determining an individual's sex based on documentation, physical characteristics, or other personal information may require disclosure of sensitive medical or personal information that is unrelated to program eligibility. The rule does not adequately explain how providers should protect the confidentiality of this information or safeguard participants from unnecessary invasions of privacy. Individuals seeking emergency shelter should not be required to disclose deeply personal information or undergo intrusive scrutiny as a condition of accessing life-saving services. The 2016 Equal Access Rule provides clear, workable guidance that promotes both program integrity and participant safety. It establishes a consistent framework that has enabled providers to administer programs while respecting participant dignity and reducing uncertainty. Replacing those protections with policies that increase ambiguity, administrative discretion, and barriers to service is contrary to HUD's mission and will make the nation's homelessness response less effective. For these reasons, the City of Tucson respectfully urges HUD to withdraw this proposed rule in its entirety and preserve the protections established by the 2016 Equal Access Rule. Every person experiencing homelessness deserves access to shelter that is safe, dignified, respectful of individual privacy, and free from discrimination.