NYC City Council May Soon Ban Landlords from Checking Applicants’ Criminal Histories

By Yehudit Garmaise

Landlords and real estate brokers routinely check the criminal backgrounds of potential tenants and buyers, but today the NYC Council is considering a bill that would greatly limit such inquiries.

Earlier this year, Mayor Eric Adams signaled that he supported the proposal when he released a housing plan in which he said he would support a bill “creating new anti-discrimination protections for New Yorkers with criminal justice histories.”

What motivates the bill are complaints launched by NYC residents who have previous convictions, even of white-collar crimes, such as fraud, that they cannot find landlords to rent them apartments, the New York Times reported.

Politicians and housing advocates say landlords who do not rent to tenants with previous convictions place those applicants at risk of homelessness and returns to lives of crime.

Formerly incarcerated people are nearly 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.

An estimated 750,000 residents of New York City have prior criminal convictions, according to the Fair Chance Housing, a group that has advocated for the bill’s passage.

Criminal background checks, however, “are a critical element of a rental housing provider’s efforts to keep their apartment communities, residents and staff safe,” pointed out Nicole Upano, the assistant vice president of the National Apartment Association However.

Last year, the NYC City Council considered a similar bill, which failed to pass after property owners and landlord groups lobbied against it.

This year, a new City Council has signaled a more progressive approach toward criminal justice, and the bill already has the support of more than 30 of the 51 City Council members. 

“No one should be denied housing because they were once engaged with the criminal justice system, plain and simple,” Charles Kretchmer Lutvak, the mayor’s deputy press secretary said.