Effective January 1, 2025, New York City’s Fair Chance for Housing Act became law. The Fair Chance for Housing Act is designed to eliminate barriers for individuals with criminal conviction histories seeking housing. The legislation’s primary goal is to ensure that past convictions do not unjustly prevent one’s ability to secure housing.
Scope of the Act
The Fair Chance for Housing Act applies broadly across New York City’s housing landscape prohibiting owners, landlords and others who have the right to sell, approve a sale, or rent property in New York City, including co-op and condominium boards, from denying housing to someone solely based on their criminal record. The Act does not apply to: (1) housing providers renting or selling units in housing with 2 or fewer rooms or units where the provider or their family reside in one of the two rooms or units, and (2) state or federally funded housing providers that are required or authorized to take specific actions related to criminal history.
The Core Provisions
- Pre-Offer Restrictions: If a housing provider chooses to use a criminal background check as part of the application process, that housing provider may only do so after a review of all other applicable criteria (income, credit history, etc.) and making a conditional offer based on that initial criteria. Housing providers are prohibited from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history before extending a conditional offer.
- A conditional offer of housing is a written commitment of a unit to an applicant after all non-criminal eligibility criteria are met conditioned on an acceptable criminal background check. Only after the conditional approval may a housing provider review criminal history.
- Post-Offer Limitations: Even after a conditional offer is made, covered housing providers may only review limited convictions as part of the criminal background check. The following are convictions which housing providers are allowed to consider:
- Convictions requiring registration on a sex offense registry at the time of the background check, regardless of when the offense occurred
- Felony convictions where the individual was either released from incarceration or sentenced (if no jail time was served) within the past 5 years
- Misdemeanor convictions where the individual was either released from incarceration or sentenced (if no jail time was served) within the past 3 years
- Applicant’s Right to Respond: The housing provider must provide the applicant with any records they received on the applicant’s conviction history. The applicant MUST be notified that they are allowed 5 business days after receipt of the background check to: (1) point out errors in the conviction history, (2) identify any information that should not have been considered, and (3) share any other information that may provide additional context that supports the application.
- Housing Provider Rejecting Application Based on Conviction History: If a housing provider does decide to withdraw a conditional offer based on conviction history, the housing provider must give the applicant written notice of their decision with an explanation why the applicant’s criminal history is relevant to a “legitimate business interest” and how any supporting information submitted by the applicant was considered.
Recommendations for NYC-based Housing Providers
New York City landlords, condo and co-op boards and managing agents, should now review and potentially revise their application and screening processes to ensure compliance with the Fair Chance for Housing Act. This includes updating application forms and establishing procedures for handling conditional offers and any subsequent background checks. All direct or indirect questions about an applicant’s criminal record from rental, co-op, or condo applications should be eliminated from applications. Moreover, housing providers should prioritize educating and training all board members, property managers, and managing agents on what they can and cannot ask during the application process.
A violation of the Fair Chance for Housing Act may result in administrative charges and proceedings before the City Human Rights Commission and civil penalties of up to $125,000.00 or $250,000.00 for violations that are the result of willful or malicious conduct.
