New York City Council considers ban on criminal background checks by apartment landlords

“This bill makes it that much harder to do that,” he said.

Lee also pointed to the double standard in public housing. The New York City Housing Authority currently conducts criminal background checks on applicants. NYCHA’s website states that “for people with recent criminal histories, convictions may influence their eligibility to live in NYCHA.”

“The city has as standard for what should be enacted for their buildings, but what the City Council is saying to private owners is that it doesn’t apply to you—that you assume all the liability,” Lee said. “The question is why does the city not absorb the same level of liability?”

Exceptions include inquiries into registered sex offenders; the bill does not apply to property owners residing in single-family or two-family properties.

Powers told Crain’s that he and his allies in the council aim to end housing discrimination based on criminal background considerations. He argued that current city law—the Fair Chance Act—makes it illegal for prospective employers to ask about an applicant’s criminal justice history prior to extending a job offer.

“We’ve already banned this in employment and an equally stabilizing force is housing,” Powers said. “Many of the people we’re talking about are in the process of rehabilitating themselves. We don’t want to give you a life sentence when it comes to finding a good home in New York City.”

Powers added that the primary motivation for the legislation is to find solutions to the city’s housing and homelessness crisis .

His office argued there is “a strong correlation” between homelessness and having interacted with the criminal justice system. They cited a 2018 survey from the nonprofit Prison Policy Institute that found people who were formerly incarcerated are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.

His office also cited a 2020 report from the Fortune Society, a New York City criminal justice nonprofit, that found 80% of those leaving Rikers Island spend at least one day in the Department of Social Services’ homeless shelter system.

“For far too long we’ve sat by and allowed these barriers to housing to exist while watching a homelessness and housing crisis rise in this city,” Powers said. “It’s starting to make very little sense that we aren’t tearing down the barriers.”

Landlord concerns
 

A similar bill barring the use of criminal background checks in the housing process was defeated last year in the City Council after pushback by the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 property owners and managers.

Frank Ricci, executive vice president of the RSA, said he hasn’t yet seen the text of Powers’ bill, but added that “it makes no sense” for residents of a building from a public safety perspective.

“What this bill does, unless it’s been modified dramatically, is it puts criminal privilege against resident safety,” Ricci said. “Owners believe in second chances, but a criminal background check is one of several tools they have to evaluate prospective new residents in a building. Owners need to have that tool.”

Ricci also pointed to the contradiction of the City Council introducing legislation to end the criminal background check process during a time of rising crime. Citywide robberies are up 40% and felony assaults are up nearly 20% year-to-date between 2021 and 2022, according to New York Police Department data.

Queens Councilman Shekar Krishnan, a co-sponsor of the bill and a member of the progressive caucus, brushed off the concerns linking ending criminal background checks to rising crime rates in the city.

“These are exactly the kinds of fear mongering, coded tactics that have been used to discriminate against Black and brown New Yorkers for decades,” Krishan said “Let’s be very clear about this: housing is a human right. It is a fundamental civil right we are protecting here.”

Critical correlations
 

Criminal justice researchers have found a correlation between incarceration status and housing discrimination.

A 2015 report of 500 landlords in New York State determined that 53% of landlords wouldn’t allow applicants with a criminal conviction to even view a property, according to the Fortune Society.

A national study conducted by Who Pays?, a community driven research project, surveyed 1,080 formerly incarcerated individuals and families and found 79% were either ineligible or denied housing due to their criminal history.

Dana Kaplan, former deputy director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, said that re-entry providers used by the city have consistently reported that their clients have had a hard time accessing housing after leaving the prison system.

“I can state affirmatively that we know that for justice-involved individuals, there has been significant concerns and considerations about barriers to accessing housing following release,” she said.

Marc Dedman, an attorney and insurance specialist at Barton LLP, said that he expects insurance premiums to go up for landlords if insurers aren’t able to verify whether tenants have a criminal record.

“When risk and uncertainty increase, then you expect that the insurance premiums would be higher,” Dedman said. “That’s just straightforward economics.”

Powers is confident the bill will pass this time around. He noted that Speaker Adrienne Adams supported the legislation last year and he said that at least 28 council members have expressed their support for it to him this time around.

Mayor Eric Adams’ has previously signaled his willingness to support the bill. The mayor’s housing blueprint cites that his administration will work with the City Council to pass legislation “creating new anti-discrimination protections” for New Yorkers with criminal justice histories.

Charles Lutvak, the mayor’s spokesperson, said the office looks forward to reviewing the legislation.