Discrimination is evil, in whichever form, it’s being practiced. A lot of reports of discrimination cases are registered daily in America. Most of them are very serious like discrimination at times of renting a house, and these come up from tenants who are denied rentals considering their criminal history.
House is a mandatory necessity to survive for everyone, even for record holders. Everyone deserves a fair chance, even criminals do when every fourth American walking holds a criminal record.
How would you feel when you’re denied to rent a property because of something you did in past and the debt’s been paid for that. Awful! This is what you’d feel. In America, most of the people feel the same when landlords slam doors on their face. Intentionally or not, they become discriminators.
According to Fair Housing Act by The Department of Housing and Urban Development which says,
“The Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) administers and enforces major legislation that ensures equal access to housing, guarantees equal opportunity in all HUD programs and prohibits, to a limited extent, discrimination in employment with respect to HUD programs.”
The record holders remain unprotected after this act and hence the discrimination takes place. Every man has the right granted to them by the law and which allows them to rent a house for themselves.
Now, on Monday 6th December 2016, as mentioned in San Diego Property Management The Department of Housing and Urban Development amended the old policy and launched it. According to this change which any landlord or property manager denying tenants or buyers based on their criminal history may be termed as violation of Fair Housing Act and severe action might be taken against them.
This amendment has certainly made things easier for tenants or buyers holding a record who ain’t a protected class under the housing act.
Holding a history of criminal records is like a punishment of a lifetime. It makes it difficult for the people to get normal jobs or homes. Many private properties renting agencies, landlords, and public housing projects have policies against renting to people with criminal records
The benefits of this amendment for record holders:
- No one will slam the door unnecessarily if he/she has a record
- Discrimination will be judged based on the case and record.
- Intentional discrimination if testified might land the owner in the jail
- Records can’t be used by landlords as a pretext for discrimination
- Intentional discrimination a property manager permitting a White individual with a record same as the other tenant mainly African-American or Hispanics disqualifying her from renting an apartment may be proven evidence of discrimination.
So, now if someone discourages you from renting a property just because you hold a criminal record background, makes you feel discriminated. You know what to do, just file a complaint against him/her and seek justice. The person will soon be behind the bars asking for mercy.
“Discrimination is an evil, being a part of any discrimination and not speaking against it, both are a big crime.” Don’t suffer, report instantly.