The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday issued new guidance on rules to ensure that gay people are protected from discrimination in federally subsidised housing, particularly in programs designed for older Americans.

The White House hosted a conference this week, something that is done only once every decade. The previous conference had over 1200 delegates in attendance, with one single delegate representing the entire LGBT community.

This year, they chose to downsize the event, and invite around 200 delegates to discuss the problems of elderly Americans.

Four of those invitees represented older LGBT people, including Michael Adams, executive director of Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders (SAGE).

HUD used the conference to announce new anti-discrimination protections for elderly LGBT Americans.

The Washington Post reports that the new HUD policy expands the department’s Equal Access Rule, designed to protect people who live in federal housing or use federal rent vouchers.

The Equal Access Rule said a person could not be evicted or refused accommodation because of sexual orientation. The new policy clarifies that no owner or administrator of HUD-subsidized housing or FHA-assisted financing may even inquire about the sexual orientation or gender identity of an applicant. Violators would be subjected to HUD sanctions, and there is no religious freedom exemption.

SAGE’s Michael Adams praised the new policy:

HUD’s announcement is a strong step toward ending discrimination against LGBT people in federally supported senior housing.

With a recent report showing that housing discrimination against LGBT elders is rampant, this is just the kind of leadership we need from the federal government. Now we need to make sure that these anti discrimination protections are effectively implemented.”

The new policy goes into effect immediately.