In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) submitted a proposed rule that “would have required Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and owners of HUD-assisted housing to provide applicants with any criminal record, information obtained during the screening process and residents would have been given fifteen (15) days to challenge the accuracy and relevance of information used to deny admission.”
During the initial proposal, HUD acknowledged the challenges that housing providers would face through compliance with these requirements. Among many challenges, three (3) prominent obstacles were:
(1) Individualized Assessments;
(2) Lookback Period; and
(3) Limits on Arrest Records
These challenges ultimately impacted whether a housing provider could categorically bar those with particular criminal charges from housing. Worse, housing providers would have been straddled with increased costs–both financial and time–associated with an individual review of applicants with a history of these particular charges.
If implemented, these modifications to the screening process would have increased the already-heavy workload of housing providers. Moreover, these changes would have likely resulted in additional legal complexities. Foremost, a case-by-case screening process is ripe for legal challenges by rejected applicants. Of course, this only compounds the increased additional costs housing providers would have faced.
The withdrawal of these proposed changes means that the industry will avoid additional administrative burdens and compliance requirements that would have involved extensive reporting and shifted the focus beyond profitability, efficiency, and tenant satisfaction.
*please contact your local attorney if you should have any questions*