[RPPTL LandTen] Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records by Providers of Housing and Real Estate-Related Transactions

[Carlos Arias]

Team:

Thought the attached Guidance Memo issued this week by HUD General Counsel would be of interest to you.  I believe most practitioners already advise clients with approval rights to focus rejections based on criminal background checks to recent convictions/arrests or those involving theft or violence, which would be in keeping with the General Counsel's conclusion reprinted below:

The Fair Housing Act prohibits both intentional housing discrimination and housing practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect because of race, national origin or other protected characteristics. Because of widespread racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system, criminal history-based restrictions on access to housing are likely disproportionately to burden African Americans and Hispanics. While the Act does not prohibit housing providers from appropriately considering criminal history information when making housing decisions, arbitrary and overbroad criminal history-related bans are likely to lack a legally sufficient justification. Thus, a discriminatory effect resulting from a policy or practice that denies housing to anyone with a prior arrest or any kind of criminal conviction cannot be justified, and therefore such a practice would violate the Fair Housing Act.

Selective use of criminal history as a pretext for unequal treatment of individuals based on race, national origin, or other protected characteristics violates the Act.

Best regards,

Carlos R. Arias
[Arias Bosinger Logo]
140 N. Westmonte Dr., Ste. 203
Altamonte Springs, Florida 32714
Tel: 407.636.2549
Fax: 321.280.2489
www.ABLawFL.com<http://www.ablawfl.com/>
In compliance with the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, this law firm is a debt collector and may be attempting to collect a debt.  Any information provided will be used for that purpose.
******************************************************************************
The information contained in this e-mail (including any attachments) message is attorney privileged and confidential information intended only for the use of the individual(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copy of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply E-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.
DISCLAIMER REGARDING UNIFORM ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS ACT ("UETA") (FLORIDA STATUTES SECTION 668.50): If this communication concerns negotiation of a contract or agreement, UETA does not apply to this communication. Contract formation in this matter shall occur only with manually affixed original signatures on original documents.
This e-mail and any attachment(s) are believed to be free from virus. However, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that they are virus free. We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage arising in any way from the receipt, opening or use of this e-mail and any attachment(s).
******************************************************************************

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/landten/attachments/20160405/f3fc1447/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 6107 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/landten/attachments/20160405/f3fc1447/image001-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: hud_ogcguidappfhastandcr.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 218796 bytes
Desc: hud_ogcguidappfhastandcr.pdf
URL: <http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/landten/attachments/20160405/f3fc1447/hud_ogcguidappfhastandcr-0001.pdf>