Old News: A Housing Ban the Box Bill

[M Marie M.]

The following post is kind of old because I couldn't figure out how to post here. It hasn't become law yet, as my Councilman McDuffie is still moving it through the process. Knowing the Council something like this will probably pass. The Council means well but they keep passing laws that in time hurt the people they claim to help.

This is just a small thing for D.C. house hackers. I saw on my neighborhood blog regarding proposed legislation regarding screening for residential properties.

See the announcement below from Ward 5 Councilmember McDuffie.

Does this “ban to box” bill impact Bates area landlords who rent out their basements?

See this response from Nolan Treadway of CM McDuffie’s office:

Owner-occupied units are EXEMPT from this law. As long as the owner lives on the property and the entire property is less than 4 units, this legislation would not apply.

And now you know.

Trio of Bills Will “Ban the Box” in Housing; Legalize Surrogacy Agreements; and Recognize Gender Identity on Death Certificates

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 30, 2016 Contact: Nolan Treadway, INFO REDACTED FOR POSTING PURPOSES Washington, DC – Today, the Committee on the Judiciary of the D.C. Council voted unanimously to send three bills to the full Council.

Fair Criminal Record Screening for Housing Act of 2016 [B21-0706]
This bill – often called “Ban the Box for Housing” – prohibits housing providers from considering prior arrests that did not result in convictions when evaluating an applicant for tenancy. The bill also prohibits a housing provider from making an applicant disclose a pending criminal accusation or criminal conviction prior to making a conditional offer for housing. And after extending a conditional offer for housing, a housing provider must provide an applicant with the eligibility criteria used in deciding whether to rent or lease and may only consider certain pending criminal accusations and criminal convictions that have occurred in the past seven years. After a conditional offer is made, it may only be withdrawn if the housing provider determines that the withdrawal or adverse action achieves a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest. Finally, the bill provides that complaints alleging violations of the law can be filed with the Office of Human Rights.

 

Upon passage of the bill out of Committee, Councilmember McDuffie remarked: “The use of criminal history-based restrictions on access to housing results in the same racial and ethnic disparities in housing that we see in our criminal justice system. We know criminal and arrest records are rarely looked at on a case-by-case basis and instead used in blanket denials of anyone who may have a blemish on their record. This legislation means that the tens of thousands of District residents who have some kind of criminal record will not be discriminated against on that basis.”