Apartment Trends Magazine September 2019 | Page 45

off er, the provider may only consider a criminal record of an applicant
that has occurred within the last 10 years or consists of pending criminal
accusations or any non-expungable criminal conviction. To conclude the
process, the bill restricts housing providers operations by only permitting
a provider to withdraw a conditional off er based on an applicant’s criminal
record, if it is determined that the withdrawal achieves a substantial,
legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest.
In addition to the considered restrictions in New Jersey, NAA is
following proposals like Pennsylvania’s “Clean Slate Act”, which passed
in 2018, went into eff ect on June 28. This law will allow the sealing of
approximately 30 million criminal records, limiting a housing providers’
ability to protect apartment residents and their communities and changing
the way that providers develop their screening criteria. Unlike long-
established expungement laws, Pennsylvania’s clean slate law creates a
mechanism to seal certain types of crimes without legal action by the
off ender. Records related to charges that did not result in a conviction,
pre-trial judgments, nonviolent crimes committed a decade or more ago
and recent minor misdemeanor off enses that resulted in less that two years
in prison will automatically be sealed from public view, if all fi nes have
been paid.
As part of the debate to give greater access to housing to vulnerable
populations, some jurisdictions are taking issue with all of the factors
applied in the screening process, not just criminal records. On April 25,
the Colorado Governor, Jared Polis, signed House Bill 19-1106 into law
which restricts a housing providers ability to properly screen an applicant’s
criminal, rental, and credit history, limiting the look-back period for rental
and credit history to seven years from the date of application. Specifi c to
criminal screening, the new law states that a housing provider may not
consider an arrest record of an applicant from any time or any conviction
that occurred more than fi ve years before the date of application.
There are, however, exceptions in the law for judgments that relate to
methamphetamine, sex, and homicide-related convictions.
Unsurprisingly, city and county councils have been a hotbed for adverse
screening legislation in 2019. Five proposals have been introduced in 2019,
with three of these becoming law in Detroit, Michigan; Cook County,
Illinois; and Portland, Oregon. Similar to proposals at the federal and
state level, the Detroit City Council recently approved the “Fair Chance
Ordinance” on February 12, which is set to take eff ect in August. NAA’s
affi liates and members should remain cautious that a national advocacy
campaign may be at play given that similar “Fair Chance Housing”
legislation has been introduced at all levels of government. Detroit’s
ordinance prohibits housing providers from inquiring about an applicant’s
criminal history, until the provider has determined that the applicant is
qualifi ed under all other phases of application process. Then, housing
providers are permitted to screen qualifi ed applicant’s criminal history and
allowed to deny an applicant based only on the following factors: violent
crimes, lifetime sex off ender registry, arson or felonies committed within
the past 10 years or resulting in imprisonment within the past fi ve years
from the date of application.
The Cook County commissioners followed suit and voted to approve the
Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance
on April 24, which requires housing providers to conduct an individualized
assessment, to consider all factors relevant to an applicant’s conviction
history and whether that history negatively impacts the applicant’s ability
to fulfi ll the responsibilities of tenancy. While the specifi c guidelines are
currently under negotiation, the “Just Housing” ordinance does provide
exceptions for housing providers: allowing the denial of application or
the continuance of occupancy if the individual is currently registered as
a sex off ender; a current child sex off ender registry restriction; or if the
individual’s criminal conviction is a demonstrable risk to personal safety or
property of others.
Portland, Oregon is the latest to adopt criminal screening restrictions.
On June 19, the Portland City Council passed its “Fair Access In Renting”
ordinance, which goes into eff ect in March 2020. The new law states that
applicants cannot be denied housing based on the following: a conviction
of a crime that is no longer illegal in Oregon; convictions in the juvenile
system; misdemeanor convictions older than three years; felony convictions
older than seven years; or a rental history judgment that was entered three
or more years prior to application. Similar to other proposals that NAA is
actively monitoring, affi liates and members should be aware that Portland’s
ordinance allows a housing provider to opt out of adopting the above
criteria, if the housing provider will conduct an individualized assessment
and commit to a lengthy list of requirements.
www.aamdhq.org
SEPTEMBER 2019
TRENDS | 43