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Re-evaluating Criminal Background Policies
- Who are the seven federal Protected Classes
- HUD’s guidance letter and its impact on property owners and managers
- How the new ruling affects development activities
- Impact of new criminal records guidelines on certain protected and non-protected classes
- Guidance letter and arrests vs. convictions
- Seriousness of the offense
- Effect of eviction on the entire household
- Actions taken to mitigate criminal activity
- Drug related offenses and rehabilitation programs
- How arrest records are considered
- Protecting the Fair Housing Rights of People with Criminal Records
- Are polices in use at your property in compliance?
- Can persons with past felonies be denied housing?
- How can we treat everyone fairly and still provide the individualized assessment now required by HUD?
- What is the difference between arrests and convictions and how does that pertain to the guidance letter
Overview of the webinar
HUD has provided recent guidance on how landlords are to process applications of applicants with a criminal record, typically felonies. This guidance is concerned with racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S criminal justice system concerning restrictions to housing because of criminal history. This guidance comes from the Office of the General Counsel of HUD.
Last year, HUD released new guidelines on the use of criminal background checks in rental housing. The guidelines are based on a legal standard upheld last year by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing plaintiffs to challenge rental housing practices that have a discriminatory effect, without having to show discriminatory intent.
Screening tenants is a vital part of the job of a landlord or property manager. While most of the criteria — credit score, income, employment — by which prospective tenants are screened are straightforward to evaluate, one in particular is not: criminal background. In order to steer clear of allegations of discrimination by a rental applicant, it’s important to take due care if you use the criminal background check to eliminate a prospective renter.
Join us for this informative, session with HUD and Fair Housing veteran, Paul Flogstad to get expert advice and actionable insights on several new and existing HUD and Federal guidelines to ensure compliance and avoid legal pitfalls.
Who should attend?
- Property Managers
- Property owners
- Maintenance Staff
- Public Housing Authority Staff
Why should you attend?
- Review your policy to make sure the language is clear, and conforms to the HUD guidelines (and have your housing specialist attorney read it over).
- Educate your staff, or anyone involved in reviewing background checks, so they are aware of the new guidance.
- Consider contacting your tenant screening provider to ask about their ability to restrict records that cannot be used in the decision.
Faculty - Mr.Paul Flogstad
Paul has been involved in the real estate industry for the past 38 years.He has been involved in sales, construction, project management, appraisal, mortgage consulting and brokerage, property management and property management consulting/training.
Through his consulting company, Property Management Solutions, he provides training and consulting services nationwide to owners, management companies, multi-housing associations, as well as state and federal agencies.
He specializes in fair housing issues and has developed fair housing and outreach programs for governmental agencies as well as conducting seminars which are presented to property management companies, apartment associations and the general public. He also conducts research analysis for impediments to fair housing for grantees of federal CDBG funds.
Most recently, he has been a consultant to the State of South Dakota. In this assignment he has developed a program that is one of the first of its kind in the nation. It involves being an Ombudsman for fair housing issues. In this role he takes calls from anyone who may have a fair housing or landlord tenant question. He attempts to resolve the issue before it has to go to HUD. This has been a successful program and he takes over 900 calls a year.
For over twenty years was involved in appraisal of residential, multi-family, farm and commercial properties throughout the Midwest. Most recently, he was a consultant for affordable, multi-housing properties in 22 different states. This involved properties in HUD, Rural Development, HOME and Tax Credit programs. He is a certified trainer for a national company which specializes in HUD and Tax Credit education.
He holds numerous professional property management designations.Paul has served on numerous boards and commissions that deal with real estate, property management and fair housing issues and is in demand as a speaker in the affordable housing industry.