EXCLUSIVE: How Scott Turner Upholds ‘Biological Truth’ at HUD

Sec. Scott Turner is restoring “biological truth” at the Department of Housing and Urban Development by making sure males can’t invade female-only shelters, he told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview.

“Under the Biden administration, they really ignored biological truth and forced DEI extreme ideology,” he said. “And so when we came into HUD, we not only eradicated DEI, but also want to uphold biological truth and to protect our female homeless shelters. And so instead of having men be able to enter in to our women’s shelters, we cut that out for the protection and the safety of ladies that are in HUD-funded shelters.”

Turner announced a new FY2025 Continuum of Care Program Notice of Funding Opportunity which cracks down on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, gender ideology, and the use of taxpayer dollars on housing for illegal aliens. The Continuum of Care competition is the largest single federal homelessness program, providing $3.9 billion in funding.

In a departure from the Biden administration, the notice says that applicants cannot rely on nonbinary definitions of sex.

“Many times, ladies go into those shelters and are coming out of domestic violence and abusive situations, and so we want to make sure that we protect all of our ladies that go into HUD funded shelters and not promote just allowing men to come in to those shelters,” Turner said.

“I’ve received communications from people saying, ‘Thank you,'” he continued. “People want to feel safe, they’re already in a distressed, desperate situation, and so to to be under the threat of further harm, we can no longer allow that.”

Last year’s Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Opportunity under Biden required grant applicants to consider ways to “address the needs of LGBTQ+, transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary individuals and families in their planning processes.”

“Additionally, when considering which projects to select in their local competition to be included in their application to HUD, CoCs should ensure that all projects provide privacy, respect, safety, and access regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation,” the notice said. “CoCs should also partner with organizations with expertise in serving LGBTQ+ populations.

Applicants were required to be in “compliance with equity requirements, including racial equity and underserved communities and LGBTQ+ requirements.”

Turner previously ended the Equal Access Rule of 2016, which requires equal access to programs for individuals based on their gender identity, rather than their biological sex.

Turner said HUD is responsible for being a good steward of taxpayer dollars and for keeping people in HUD-funded housing safe, and the Biden administration failed at both.

“Under the Biden administration, they allowed men into women’s shelters,” he said, “and it was causing further disruptions and putting women under further threat of harm.”

While the Biden administration pushed faith-based providers out of the grant program by mandated adherence to the “Housing First” policy, President Donald Trump’s HUD is bringing those shelters back into the fold.

The “Housing First” policy prohibits shelters from mandating sobriety before accepting residents, which is the practice of many faith-based homes.

“During the Biden administration, faith-based organizations were literally stiff armed when it came to competing for the Continuum of Care competitive grants because of their beliefs and because of their convictions,” he said.

“Faith-based organizations have convictions, like [about] sobriety and drug use, and so because of that, they were not allowed to compete for these Continuum of Care funds,” Turner added. “And so what we’ve done with this [fiscal year 2025] Continuum of Care, competitive [notice of funding opportunity] is open up the table to our faith-based organizations, and so we are no longer just concentrating on warehousing homelessness.”

Religious liberty law firm Alliance Defending Freedom has represented several homeless shelters who lost funding due to their faith. Senior counsel at ADF, Matt Bowman, praised Turner’s move.

“Religious organizations should not be punished for exercising their freedom to pursue their mission and hire employees consistent with their faith,” he told The Daily Signal, “so we’re excited that the department plans to protect religious applicants and also to protect women, because they deserve a place to sleep where they can feel secure.”

Turner said HUD’s focus is not just on housing people, but on getting to the root of their homelessness with wrap around services that get them to a life of self-sufficiency.

“Our faith-based organizations around the country have day in and day out, for years and really generations, been the ones that working with our homeless neighbors to help them be transformed,” he said.

Because the Continuum of Care moves funding from permanent shelters to transitional housing to encourage eventual self-sufficiency, Democrats have accused Turner of cutting funding for homelessness. Nineteen Democrat attorneys general and two governors are suing the Trump administration over the change.

But Turner says this is fake news, as the Continuum of Care does not “slash” funding.

“The fact is that it’s an increase in funding,” he said. “It’s an increase in assistance to go from about $3.6 billion in the last funding notice to $3.9 billion in this new Continuum of Care, competitive [notice of funding opportunity]. And so it’s not a cut, it’s an increase. And so I wanted to make that clear, because we’ve heard the same narrative, but those are the facts.”

Turner said HUD is not designed to be “warehousing our homeless neighborhoods,” but to help people get services to attack the root of the problem.

“This is not about just awarding people because of the number of people they have in a homeless shelter,” he said, “but this is about awarding people for housing people, getting services to them, and getting people back to self sufficiency.”

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