FHA Criminal Record Bill

When we look at a person on the street corner what do we see, are we paying attention to their outward appearance or do we happen to notice whether or not they have a criminal record? Even if a person has committed a crime they still need a place to sleep and to be able to call their own at the end of the day. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the fair housing act and how it applies to background checks when applying for an apartment.

Fair Housing Act

The fair housing act states that no one is allowed to discriminate against anyone because of their race, sex, nationality, sexual orientation or any other distinguishing feature (Justice). It has been very difficult because it has taken a lot of discrimination and many lives to be lost before this act which was designed from the civil rights division of the department of justice. It is a shame that it is needed at all but it also shows just how ignorant we have been as a nation and that there were people who wanted to make a change. This particular act makes it possible for those who want a fair opportunity of being able to buy a house or even rent an apartment finally be able to get the chance to do so and not have to worry about being discriminated against for something as simple as possibly having a criminal record.

Department of Housing and Urban Development

The Department of Housing and Urban Development which for some people is also very well known as HUD is finally revamping its policies and now instructing landlords that they can be fined and found in violation of federal law if they fail to provide housing to anyone that has had a criminal record. This of course leaves the landlord in a very awkward position because their faces a dilemma of having to protect their current tenants from the possibility of crime being committed against them and having to follow the law. The landlord is liable and faces the possibility of a potential lawsuit if one of their other tenants is victimized and they can be placed in prison since they would be violating federal law if they refuse to rent to someone just because the person has a criminal record (Pender).  It becomes the old scenario is a Catch-22 where a person is basically left with a no-win scenario no matter what decision they choose to make.

One way that HUD has advised landlords to look at the situation is to make it an individualized case-by-case situation for example, if a person has been convicted of any drug-related crimes then it is not considered discrimination if the landlord decides not to rent to them. For other offenses however it is advised that the landlord look at when the last crime was committed and the age of the offender and also look at any rehabilitation efforts that have been made by the offender to change their lives and take those into consideration whenever possible (Pender). This seems pretty reasonable because there are some people that no matter what they endure in this life they are simply not going to change and landlords have to be able to protect themselves and their tenets from these types of people. It is like the old saying goes only those who truly wish to help themselves will do so and there is only so much that can be done for a person before it is time to simply let them go.

How Long Is Too Long?

A man who makes a mistake in his youth and learns from that mistake and does not get into any more trouble is that haunted by that trouble for the rest of his life. That seems pretty ridiculous considering the fact that there are people out here who have no consideration for human life and do all kinds of ridiculous crimes and get not near the jail time that they should receive this elderly man cannot even get a place to lay his head. What on earth has this world come to? We let a rapist go free after six months in prison and punish a 70-year-old man for getting charged with a DUI one time and his life and he learned from that mistake and never made it again yet it is still haunting him to this day (Kusisto). What is the justice in that? 

It is completely disgusting that what has become of our country is to have our scales of justice tipped so out of balance that we want to punish someone who has already served their time and already paid their debt to society for the wrongdoing. At one point do they stop paying especially when they were not a repeat offender? It is time to stop persecuting this man and others like him who truly want to help themselves and give them a second chance at they are so desperately seeking so that they can help others along the road to possibly prevent them from making the same mistakes that they did.

Statistics 

• There are an estimated 19.8 million people that currently have or have had a criminal felony record.

• There are 1 in 9 people that are currently serving a life sentence.

• There are some states such as Kentucky, South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Maryland that have taken steps to help those that have criminal records but are currently trying to make efforts to better themselves (Project). 

These are just some of the things that are being done but they are only the beginning and much more work needs to be done before we can hope for any type of improvement. In the city of New Orleans the housing authority is currently trying to take things on a case-by-case basis when accepting applications for housing which is a huge step in the right direction (Project). 

Fair Chance At Housing Act

A bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in an attempt at the federal level to address is very important issue of making sure that everyone is able to have a fair opportunity at housing. This particular bill looks to make necessary changes to the 1998 quality housing and work responsibility act that was its predecessor. One of the very necessary accomplishments that it hopes to be able to achieve is to make the clear definition of any criminal activity not just drug-related but any criminal activity with connection to federally assisted housing (Waters). 

This particular bill would require that the private housing authority or owner when they are screening an applicant for federally assisted housing will be required to conduct an individualized review of a prospective tenant’s criminal background before they are allowed to deny the housing application (Waters). This means that for the first time agencies would actually have to look at more than just what they see in front of them to make more of an honest decision about whether or not a person should be denied in spite of having a criminal record. What a great accomplishment that would be for many people to be treated like human beings again instead of being looked at as something much worse. 

Fairness For All

It is all well and good to want fairness for those that have been incarcerated but we must be careful not to discriminate against those that already live in the housing facilities too. When HUD decided to organize a series of educational sessions in various neighborhoods they found that a lot more than housing rights are being violated by their landlords. They found the very sad and harsh truth that the right to organize was also being violated. HUD has expressed many times that they want the people of the communities in which they live to come together and organize community functions and various activities. This is supposed to be designed to help everyone feel better about their community and for everyone to be able to get to know each other so that when there are problems within they can be solved in a calm and positive manner. 

However it has been discovered that owners and management have been threatening community organizers with arrest, denying access to the on-site meeting spaces within the complex, and even going so far as to threaten tenants with eviction if they participate in the scheduled activities. This unfortunately leads to everyone being afraid to participate because of being terrifyingly afraid of losing their home and considering how very difficult it was to get in the first place there is no way on earth that anyone is going to be willing to do anything that could jeopardize their home (Coffey). 

Constitutional Rights

When we look at the United States Constitution, one of the first things that we should notice is where it says “that we are all entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Harr and Hess 23). What many people fail to realize is that part of that pursuit of happiness is having a place to live so that we are able to have shelter without having to worry about freezing at night. People fight every day and night just for peace the ground to be able to put their few blankets on claiming it is as their place to sleep because they are homeless it is the best they can do. Being from a country town is not something one sees very often but making the transition to a big-city it is quite a shock to see people sleeping under bridges because they have nowhere. All of the sources that are available are completely filled to capacity. It becomes very eye-opening and yet saddening at the same time because it makes one think this is the best we can do for one another. How awful as a nation have we become that we can send money everywhere else all over the world that our own people sleeping under bridges? And we want to turn good honest people away for something as stupid as having a criminal record that they served their time for and paid their debt to society goodness gracious. When did we become so foolish and since when did it matter who we receive money from as long as the rent is being paid on time?

Conclusion

The fair housing act was designed in 1968 when it was created and is still being used today in the hopes of being able to make housing fair to everyone regardless of their race, creed, sexual orientation, nationality or any other designating classifying factor. Criminal records have now become a classifying factor when running a background check on someone and with the advancement of technology it has become increasingly easier for landlords to be able to make a consideration when making the choice of whether or not to allow someone to live in their facilities. This unfortunately means that we have the ability to discriminate against someone simply for the fact that they made a mistake whether they paid the price and paid their debt to society by serving their time or not. We saw in the case of an elderly gentleman who committed a crime in his younger days and paid his price and did not commit another crime after that but unfortunately because of our system he is unable to get an apartment.

Where is the justice in that scenario? It could be any of us faced with this particular situation the sad part is that could be someone we know and love. Would it then be more important, or when we simply say well they should not have made a mistake then everything would be fine and they would be able to get a place. How long is too long and at what point do us as a community and a nation say enough is enough? If we do not find a solution to the very real problem it could be us or our children out on the street one day. Will that be what it takes to get our attention?

Works Cited

Coffey, Emily. Tenants' Right to Organize in HUD-Assisted Housing Must Be Enforced. 21 April 2016. 11 June 2016. <http://www.theshriverbrief.org/articles/housing-justice/>.

Harr, Scott J. and Hess Karen, M. Constitutional Law And The Criminal Justice System. Belmont, CA : Wadsworth Cengage Learning , 2008. Print.

Justice, United States Department of. Fair Housing Act . n.d. Web. 11 June 2016.

Kusisto, Laura. "Landlords Face Pressure on Criminal Background Checks." 4 April 2016. The Wall Street Journal. 11 June 2016. <http://www.wsj.com/articles/landlords-face-pressure-on-criminal-background-checks-1459779351>.

Pender, Kathleen. "New HUD Guidance on Criminal Records Puts Landlords in a Bind." 9 April 2016. http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/New-HUD-guidance-on-criminal-records-puts-7237897.php. Web. 11 June 2016.

Project, The Sentencing. State Advocacy Update: Fair Housing Guidance Offers Opportunity for State and Local Advocacy. 28 April 2016. 11 June 2016. <http://www.sentencingproject.org/news/state-advocacy-update-fair-housing-guidance-offers-opportunity-for-state-and-local-advocacy/>.

Waters, Maxine Rep. "H.R.5085 - Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2016." 27 April 2016. H.R.5085 — 114th Congress (2015-2016). 11 June 2016. <https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5085>.