The Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019 represents a comprehensive reform of the eviction and screening policies for federal housing assistance, such as Public Housing and the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The legislation rolls back harmful policies that continue to unfairly threaten tenants with eviction for minor crimes in the absence of sufficient evidence, allow for the termination of the tenancy of an entire family because of the criminal activity of a guest even without the knowledge of anyone in the household, and continue to create unfair barriers to federal housing assistance for individuals who are trying to rebuild their lives.
This legislation aims to reduce recidivism by helping ex-offenders find stable housing and ensuring those currently receiving federal assistance are not unfairly evicted. For decades, the War on Drugs has done far more harm than good, wreaking havoc on American families through mass incarceration while having a very limited impact on rehabilitation. Moreover, these efforts have had profoundly disproportionate effects on minorities, who have historically been the primary target of harsh anti-drug policies. The consequences of these now-debunked policies reach much farther than the doors of our prisons. A criminal background can have lifelong implications for a person’s ability to obtain housing, employment, education, and to otherwise rebuild their lives. Access to stable housing in particular is one of the most important first steps to rehabilitation, but federal laws continue to pose unnecessary and punitive barriers to federal housing assistance for those with criminal records.
