Fair Housing Center Reports Detail Housing Struggles Facing Those With Criminal Convictions in Cuyahoga County

An apartment building in downtown Cleveland Credit: Mark Oprea

A pair of reports from the Fair Housing Center detail the stubborn consequences of criminal convictions for apartment-seekers in Cuyahoga County.

The nonprofit advocacy group surveyed more than 100 Greater Cleveland renters in one report — most identifying as Black, and employed or job-seeking — and 60 landlords or property managers in the other, collectively in control of more than 6,000 rental units.

In a forthcoming third study, Senior Research Associate Austin Cummings tested for bias by using avatars of various genders and races, and some with criminal backgrounds, to apply online for an apartment. (Spoiler alert: Race matters, underscoring the double whammy for people of color with criminal records.)

The studies funded by the federal government track decades of research on the post-conviction challenges of access to housing, which is required as a condition of parole and integral to successful reentry.

“Housing is public safety in a lot of respects,” Cummings told The Marshall Project – Cleveland. “It provides stability for individuals. What the report also illustrates is that for returning citizens and justice-impacted families, it’s a really important element to finding economic stability.”

The research surfaces hidden barriers like costly application fees, local ordinances prohibiting group homes, and landlords who expressly reject qualified applicants, charge steeper security deposits, rely on artificial intelligence to screen applications and ban renters with criminal backgrounds, which might be illegal under federal law.

Survey respondents who were denied apartments cited criminal convictions more often than their ability to pay.

Landlords said they most frequently review income and prior evictions, but they check criminal backgrounds as often as credit scores and more often than rental histories. They said sex-related offenses and domestic violence are the most disqualifying criminal convictions. Convictions for selling drugs are three times as disqualifying as drug use or possession.

Two-thirds of landlords said they lack written policies for screening applicants. Most ignore federal antidiscrimination guidelines about the use of criminal background checks. And a few admitted to flat-out denying anyone with a criminal conviction.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, issued guidance in 2016 and 2022 highlighting how the disproportionate incarceration of Black people perpetuates negative outcomes when later seeking affordable housing.

While the federal government does not recognize people with prior convictions as a protected class, HUD in the 2022 guidance determined that “using criminal history to screen, deny lease renewal, evict, or otherwise exclude individuals from housing may be illegal under the Fair Housing Act.” The federal agency said landlords “frequently employ policies or practices that exclude individuals with criminal involvement from housing, which should raise red flags for investigators.”

Advocacy groups recommend that renters with criminal backgrounds understand their rights while urging leaders to pass model antidiscrimination laws like the Fair Chance at Housing Act.

This article was first published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.