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Background Check Policies for Apartment Applicants May Be Illegal
Apartment building managers may be breaking the law if they deny housing to all prospective residents who fail a background check, according to the latest guidance from federal officials.
“A policy or practice that denies housing to anyone with a prior arrest or any kind of criminal conviction cannot be justified,” according to guidance issued April 4 by Helen Kanovsky, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Apartment building owners and managers are scrambling to understand and comply with this latest interpretation of the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal for housing providers to discriminate against a variety of protected classes of people, including minorities. Many landlords are now uncertain how to balance their responsibility to keep their communities safe with their responsibility under the law not to discriminate.
“HUD has created a tremendous amount of uncertainty with the guidelines,” says Paula Cino, vice president for the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC).
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