Report: Criminal checks for low-income housing residents go back too far
By Natalie MooreReport: Criminal checks for low-income housing residents go back too far
By Natalie MooreA new report by the Shriver National Center on Poverty Law argues that many owners of subsidized housing developments in Illinois discriminate against people who have criminal backgrounds — even when their offenses are decades old.
The authors cite one development in Chicago that looks back 99 years for drug-related offenses and criminal convictions. Several check records that go back 25 years.
Neither local nor federal housing authorities set the time frame for such background checks; instead, the building owners do.
Marie Claire Tran-Leung, authored the report, which is called “When Discretion Means Denial.”
“Ideally we would like to see individual public housing authorities and project owners reassess their individual policies,” Tran-Leung said.
She said arrests should not be the sole proof of criminal activity.