Just Housing Amendment, Ord. No. 19-2394 to § 42-38 of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance
- Cook County, Illinois
- In Effect: December 21, 2019
TL;DR:
Restricts use of criminal records beyond the last 3 years of a prospective tenant or employee’s application for the purposes of tenant screening.
What it is:
Cook County’s Just Housing Amendment aims to prevent housing discrimination among persons with a criminal background. The Just Housing Ordinance has since been added to the Human Rights section of Cook County’s municipal law. The two-step tenant screening process that must be followed still includes a criminal background check in addition to pre-qualification (ability to pay, references, etc.).
What it means:
If an applicant was convicted of a major crime and served 4+ years in prison for it, housing providers and landlords are prohibited from factoring that criminal record in their decision because the conviction is older than 3 years.
More emphasis is being placed on individual assessments of applicants’ criminal histories. To better comply with the ordinance, a landlord should have a screening practice in place that takes several factors into account, such as the nature and severity of the offense, how recently it occurred, the number of criminal offenses, and evidence of rehabilitation.
Applicants currently registered as sex offenders who may violate the housing provider’s rental criteria may still be taken into consideration.
If an applicant is denied based on their criminal history, then a landlord must also provide them with an opportunity to dispute the denial using evidence that can counter the information they received. Applicants have five (5) business days to provide evidence disputing the information used in the decision to deny them.
The penalties for non-compliance with this ordinance are effective as of February 1st, 2020. The fines for violating the Just Housing Ordinance range between $100 – $500 for each offense, and each day a violation continues.
Whom it affects:
Applicants for Housing or Employment
Applicants for employment or housing with criminal charges or convictions within the last 3 years.
Employers
Employers hiring prospective candidates with criminal charges or convictions within the last 3 years.
Consumer Reporting Agencies
Third-party consumer reporting agencies when conducting background checks on applicants or employees with parameters specifying to retrieve felony hits beyond the 3-year time period
How to comply:
For Housing Providers-
- Review the applicant’s credit report and eviction history to verify they qualify with rental criteria
- Approve the applicant under the condition that there is nothing within their criminal history within the past 3 years (the date of conviction) that would violate rental criteria
- Review the applicant’s criminal history using only records showing the date of conviction within the past 3 years
- If a criminal conviction appears within the three-year lookback, review using the individual assessment policy pursuant to the housing provider/company’s requirements
Resources:
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