FAIR CHANCE FOR ALL

BY ANDRE WARD Associate Vice President of the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy The Fortune Society

There are many things to look forward to when you are finally able to leave a prison’s walls. Family, friends and freedom will come as you close the door to your cell and walk back towards your life. But there is one thing that you can’t necessarily count on after leaving prison - finding a stable home.

One of the greatest forms of discrimination that the formerly incarcerated across the country face after reentering society is finding housing. Those with justice involvement areconstantly denied a place to live based on one thing: the fact that they have been convicted of a crime. When landlords run criminal background checks on potential tenants and screen out applicants with criminal records, people in desperate need of housing are denied a basic right over and over again. It doesn’t matter if the crime happened two years ago or twenty, or if it was a small misdemeanor or a violent felony; all that most landlords and realtors care about is that a criminal conviction exists.

The time has come to change this mindset across the country. In 2016, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance clarifying that blanket admissions bans against people with conviction histories were illegal under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The FHA prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, age, color, national origin, religion, sex, genetic information and disability. While the FHA does not explicitly prohibit criminal background screenings, HUD recognizes what we all know to be a fact, that there are enormous racial and ethnic disparities within the criminal legal system and to discriminate based on criminal convictions disproportionally harms people of color. The outsize impact that criminal background checks have on people of color is considered a form of racial discrimination which is illegal.

However, despite HUD’s guidance, over the past six years, the practice of housing discrimination has continued. While most landlords and realtors do not explicitly state that they have a blanket ban, they still insist on conducting a criminal background check on almost every applicant. And even if those individuals have solid jobs, good credit ratings and meet every other standard for tenancy or ownership, if they have a criminal conviction, the answer is almost universally, “No.”

For the past year and a half, The Fortune Society has decided that it needs to fundamentally change this world of “Nos,” which leads to a world of homelessness, recidivism and pain. We are currently co-leading a campaign for Fair Chance for Housing in New York City. Under this campaign, we meet with city council members and elected officials, holdmarches and rallies, develop webinars and other educational seminars and most importantly, advocate for legislation. Right now, in New York City, we are lobbying for the passage of The Fair Chance for Housing Act, a law that would prohibit any private landlord or realtor in New York City from performing criminal background checks on any of its applicants.

It is time for New York City to take the lead on an important, national issue affecting the formerly incarcerated. Housing discrimination based on criminal convictions takes place in all fifty states, and there are only a dozen or so cities (plus The State of New Jersey, which just passed a law) that have attempted to reign in this problem. However, many of these laws don’t go far enough to prohibit discrimination against the formerly justice-involved and they often carve out significant exceptions that allow landlords and realtors to continue excluding those with criminal backgrounds. The Fair Chance for Housing Act we are proposing is different. It is one of the most comprehensive in the country because it prohibits any private landlord or realtor from looking at an individual’s criminal history at all.

The Fair Chance for Housing Act in front of the New York City Council is close to becoming law. With 23 sponsors and dozens of advocates citywide, steps are being taken every single day to get it passed. But it cannot stop here, we must build a national campaign to end housing discrimination against the formerly incarcerated. As we say at our rallies and protests, “Housing is a human right!” •