In an attempt to further President Joe Biden’s work on equity, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge has ordered her staff to develop new pathways to housing for those with criminal records.
According to USA Today, Sec. Fudge sent a memo to staff this week instructing them to propose updates and amendments consistent with the directive to “make our policies as inclusive as possible,” in respect to “barriers to housing for persons with criminal histories or their families.” Within the next six months, HUD staffers will be charged with looking into are guidance documents, model leases and other agreements.
Under current federal law, people convicted of certain crimes are unable to access publicly funded housing programs, bolstering the prison-to-homelessness pipeline in many cities across the country. For example, those individuals convicted with drug possession, producing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing or lifetime registered sex offenders are barred from federal housing programs.
According to USA Today, some 70 million-100 million Americans have a criminal record, per FBI stats. Of those, roughly 19 million have a felony conviction.
Currently, people with criminal records aren’t a protected class under the Fair Housing Act of 1968.