{"id":11092,"date":"2023-07-02T18:38:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T18:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11092"},"modified":"2023-07-02T18:38:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T18:38:35","slug":"will-limiting-background-checks-make-housing-fairer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=11092","title":{"rendered":"Will limiting background checks make housing fairer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Every year, more than 600,000 people leave US state and federal prisons<\/a>. Then they need to find a place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers have found that formerly incarcerated individuals are far more likely<\/a> to be homeless<\/a> than the general public. Many landlords simply reject renting to applicants who\u2019ve been to jail or prison \u2014 and given that one in three US adults has a criminal record, this creates a significant housing crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But those released with stable housing<\/a> are more likely to reintegrate into their communities<\/a> and less likely to end up back in prison than their formerly incarcerated peers in more precarious housing situations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter \u201cfair chance\u201d laws: legislation that limits how landlords can use criminal records when screening prospective tenants. While the ordinances vary from place to place \u2014 some cover all rental housing while others just apply to subsidized housing \u2014 the goal is to limit how criminal histories can be used and ensure due process for prospective tenants when applying.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For now, the only rigorous study on fair chance housing ordinances comes from a working paper series at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, where two economists looked at the effects of a law<\/a> the Minneapolis city council passed in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local law caps security deposits at one month\u2019s rent, bans the use of credit scores in rental applications, and restricts landlords\u2019 ability to reject people based on evictions that occurred more than three years prior. For criminal records, landlords can no longer reject applicants due to misdemeanors older than three years, felonies older than seven years, and certain more serious convictions older than 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economists submitted fake email inquiries to publicly listed rental ads using names chosen to sound like Black, white, and Somali people. (Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the US.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that after Minneapolis\u2019s fair chance ordinance took effect, discrimination against Black and Somali applicants increased by over 10 percentage points for both groups, relative to those in neighboring St. Paul, which did not have such a law. Differences were largest for emails sent from Black and Somali male-sounding names, for apartments that were at least two bedrooms, and for units in historically Black neighborhoods. (The researchers couldn\u2019t identify individual companies that discriminated, but could observe discrimination based on overall contact rates to randomized emails sent to large groups of properties.)”  
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“it\u2019s impossible to tell which aspect of the law \u2014 be it limiting eviction history, credit history, or criminal records \u2014 might be causing the effect.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In 2021, New Jersey passed a statewide fair chance housing law<\/a> with bipartisan support, and with backing from landlord groups. It doesn\u2019t go as far as Seattle\u2019s ordinance in restricting how criminal histories can ultimately be used, but it comes with a strong enforcement mechanism.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

” With the exception of convictions related to producing methamphetamine and being listed on a sex offender registry, landlords can never ask about an applicant\u2019s criminal history in the first round of applications, and they can only evaluate a criminal record after a conditional housing offer has been made. If a landlord finds a serious crime committed relatively recently, they can withdraw the offer, explaining to the applicant in detail why, and the applicant has the right to appeal it or file a complaint with the state. A housing provider can never rely on arrests that didn\u2019t result in convictions to reject an applicant. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy\/23750632\/housing-landlords-renter-fair-chance-criminal-record-background-check<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Every year, more than 600,000 people leave US state and federal prisons. Then they need to find a place to live.
\nResearchers have found that formerly incarcerated individuals are far more likely to be homeless than the general public. Many landlords simply reject renting to applicants who\u2019ve been to jail or prison \u2014 and given that one in three US adults has a criminal record, this creates a significant housing crisis.<\/p>\n

But those released with stable housing are more likely to reintegrate into their communities and less likely to end up back in prison than their formerly incarcerated peers in more precarious housing situations.<\/p>\n

Enter \u201cfair chance\u201d laws: legislation that limits how landlords can use criminal records when screening prospective tenants. While the ordinances vary from place to place \u2014 some cover all rental housing while others just apply to subsidized housing \u2014 the goal is to limit how criminal histories can be used and ensure due process for prospective tenants when applying.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“For now, the only rigorous study on fair chance housing ordinances comes from a working paper series at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, where two economists looked at the effects of a law the Minneapolis city council passed in 2019.<\/p>\n

The local law caps security deposits at one month\u2019s rent, bans the use of credit scores in rental applications, and restricts landlords\u2019 ability to reject people based on evictions that occurred more than three years prior. For criminal records, landlords can no longer reject applicants due to misdemeanors older than three years, felonies older than seven years, and certain more serious convictions older than 10 years.<\/p>\n

The economists submitted fake email inquiries to publicly listed rental ads using names chosen to sound like Black, white, and Somali people. (Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the US.)<\/p>\n

The researchers found that after Minneapolis\u2019s fair chance ordinance took effect, discrimination against Black and Somali applicants increased by over 10 percentage points for both groups, relative to those in neighboring St. Paul, which did not have such a law. Differences were largest for emails sent from Black and Somali male-sounding names, for apartments that were at least two bedrooms, and for units in historically Black neighborhoods. (The researchers couldn\u2019t identify individual companies that discriminated, but could observe discrimination based on overall contact rates to randomized emails sent to large groups of properties.)” <\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“it\u2019s impossible to tell which aspect of the law \u2014 be it limiting eviction history, credit history, or criminal records \u2014 might be causing the effect.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“In 2021, New Jersey passed a statewide fair chance housing law with bipartisan support, and with backing from landlord groups. It doesn\u2019t go as far as Seattle\u2019s ordinance in restricting how criminal histories can ultimately be used, but it comes with a strong enforcement mechanism.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

” With the exception of convictions related to producing methamphetamine and being listed on a sex offender registry, landlords can never ask about an applicant\u2019s criminal history in the first round of applications, and they can only evaluate a criminal record after a conditional housing offer has been made. If a landlord finds a serious crime committed relatively recently, they can withdraw the offer, explaining to the applicant in detail why, and the applicant has the right to appeal it or file a complaint with the state. A housing provider can never rely on arrests that didn\u2019t result in convictions to reject an applicant.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[270],"class_list":["post-11092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-housing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11093,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11092\/revisions\/11093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}