Fairer screening rules for HUD-assisted housing: We submitted comments in support of HUD’s proposed rule to eliminate discriminatory uses of criminal records in screening tenants for admission to HUD-funded housing. Our comments included strong support for the elimination of the long-standing (and illegal) practice of re-screening voucher tenants who move from one public housing authority’s “area of operation” to another PHA’s town. We also stressed the relationship of government-sponsored segregation and disproportionate policing and arrests in predominantly Black and Latino communities as a relevant fair housing consideration in HUD’s reassessment of the use of criminal records. A few weeks after HUD issued the proposed rule, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity also issued helpful general guidance on fair housing impacts of some common, but often discriminatory, tenant screening practices.
Appendix B update: As local ordinances continue to proliferate around the country, we continue to update our resource, “State, Local, and Federal Laws Barring Source-of-Income Discrimination.” The latest 2024 update includes 8 new local laws, several new studies and law review articles, several new proposed state laws, and sadly, preemption laws in Kentucky and Idaho erasing local ordinances in Louisville, Lexington, and Boise.
PRRAC at HUD: Save the date and register (online or in person) for a July 25 HUD symposium on source of income discrimination, sponsored by HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research.
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