FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kris Keniray, Associate Director
Phone: 216-361-9240, Ext. 208
E-mail: kkeniray@thehousingcenter.org
CLEVELAND, Ohio (Tuesday, June 11, 2019) – The Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research (The Fair Housing Center) has created a new resource to assist those denied housing based on criminal history. Common estimates hold that 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. have a criminal record. Those who have been engaged with the criminal justice system often face immense obstacles to housing upon release from incarceration for years, even decades, to come. Such obstacles impact the individual, their family and the larger community. Access to stable housing is critical to successful community reentry.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released guidance in 2016 (HUD’s Guidance) stating that criminal history-based restrictions on housing opportunities violate fair housing laws if they disproportionately impact people in one or more protected classes (i.e. race or national origin). HUD’s Guidance notes that significant racial biases exist within the U.S. criminal justice system disproportionately impacting the Black and Latinx communities. HUD’s Guidance indicates that housing providers may violate the Fair Housing Act if they:
- Rely on arrest records that did not result in criminal conviction,
- Deny housing to folks convicted of particular offenses that the housing provider cannot prove, through reliable evidence, are necessary to serve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest,
- Deny housing to all persons with any prior criminal convictions,
- Do not individually assess each applicant’s history and provide an opportunity for the applicant to provide mitigating information before denying housing based upon the result of criminal screening, or
- Treat applicants with similar criminal histories differently from one another based upon their race, national origin, or other protected characteristic.
Nonetheless, many housing providers’ policies do not comply with HUD’s Guidance. The Fair Housing Center’s new resources, a letter to request an appeal of housing denial and a companion instruction sheet available online at www.thehousingcenter.org, help individuals denied housing due to criminal screening both request an opportunity to appeal the denial of their application and educate housing providers on HUD’s Guidance. If the housing provider maintains their denial or ignores the request, The Fair Housing Center can provide more detail on HUD’s Guidance and information on how to pursue a fair housing complaint.
Carrie Pleasants, Executive Director of The Fair Housing Center notes, “Policies that exclude people from housing for decades-old offenses maintain racial and class divides, impede integration and prevent us from healing as a nation.” The Fair Housing Center offers this new resource to increase fair housing knowledge, expand access to housing, and remove discriminatory barriers to housing.
The work that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under a grant with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The substance and findings of the work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Government.
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Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research (The Fair Housing Center) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect fair housing rights, eliminate housing discrimination, and promote integrated communities.