LGBT Equal Access to HUD Programs Policy Awareness

On April 25th, the City of Somerville Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, in collaboration with the Office of Somerville Commissions, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Dvelopment Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and MassEquality, presented a training to recipients of aid from HUD about the new regulations prohibiting housing discrimination. Under the regulation, any housing that receives funding from HUD is prohibited from discriminating based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The training was well attended and provoked interesting conversations about equal access to housing for LGBT residents of Somerville. One thing that was discussed was that the new regulation may provide encouragement for homeless services to provide better accommodations for LGBT people, particularly transgender individuals.

You can get more information about the nondiscrimination policy here.

City of Somerville LGBTQ Programs and Services Directory

In May, in partnership with the Committee on Suicide Prevention and Mental Health and with the help of an excellent Tisch Scholar Ryan Parigoris, we were able to finally produce a first edition of the City of Somerville LGBTQ Programs and Services Directory. This has been a long time coming, and was worked on for many years by various LGBT Liaisons. After a small print run, we have now put the guide online! Check it out. Got any feedback about it? Let us know in the comments!