HUD Takes Aim At Discriminatory Practices By Tenant Screening Companies And Housing Providers

By National Consumer Law Center Photos: HUD\YouTube Screenshots WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) issued strong and comprehensive guidance this week to protect rental housing applicants from discriminatory tenant screening practices that violate the Fair Housing Act. The FHEO targets some of the most common tenant screening practices, including the use of criminal records, eviction records, and credit history. “We applaud HUD for continuing its vital work protecting rental housing applicants by providing a desperately needed clarification of the rules of the road under the Fair Housing Act for both tenant screening companies and housing providers,” said Ariel Nelson, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, who leads its Criminal Justice Debt and Reintegration Project. “HUD has made it clear that certain information is simply not relevant in assessing rental applicants, and its use may result in unlawful discrimination. Credit history, for example, does not accurately predict a successful tenancy, as credit scores are designed to assess the relative risk of consumers defaulting on a loan–not the risk that a tenant will fail to pay rent.”  Landlords almost always engage in some form of screening of...