1. Overcoming Tenant Screening Barriers
Jane Edmonstone, Esq. Senior Supervising Attorney, Housing Unit Community Legal Aid One Monarch Place, Suite 400 Springfield, MA 01144

2. Who is Community Legal Aid?
CLA provides free legal services to low-income and elderly residents of Central and Western Massachusetts. We help people in the areas of housing, public benefits, education, family law, immigration and more. Individuals can apply for services by visiting one of our offices, applying online at communitylegal.org, or calling 855-CLA-LEGAL.

3. Why are tenants denied apartments?

4. What’s the difference between these two columns?
Not enough income
Bad credit
Eviction history/bad landlord references
Criminal history
Other reasons?
Race, color, national origin
Religion
Disability
Rental subsidy or public assistance
Sex, sexual orientation, gender identity
Marital status
Familial status (having kids)
What’s the difference between these two columns?

5. Applying for an apartment in the private market versus applying for subsidized housing
Private market: craigslist.org, etc; little or no structured process Subsidized apartments: housing authorities, multifamily complexes, very structured process for denial and appeals

6. Common issues in the private market
Eviction history
Kids and lead paint
Section 8 or other rental subsidy
Assistance animals
Others?

7. Eviction history
All Housing Court records are accessible online at masscourts.org
Landlord routinely access these records to screen tenants
Tips?
Judgment not entering against tenant, especially a money judgment
If so, make sure the landlord files a “satisfaction of judgment” when rent is paid off.
Get case “dismissed” at the end of the case.
In reality, the mere filing of a case is prejudicial and, for now, that cannot be erased.

8. Lead paint and kids
Massachusetts requires the removal or covering of lead paint hazards in homes built before 1978 where any children under 6 live. Lead paint hazards include loose lead pain, lead paint on windows and friction surfaces, and other surfaces accessible to children. This process can be expensive – it’s an obligation that’s only triggered when a child lives in the home. It is illegal housing discrimination for a landlord to refuse to rent an apartment because the tenant family has a child. (Landlord can delay the move-in for 30 days to abate the hazards).

9. Section 8 and other rental subsidies
It is illegal housing discrimination for a landlord to refuse to rent an apartment because the tenant has a rental voucher, or because of any requirements of the voucher program. Why don’t landlords want to rent to tenants with vouchers? In what ways are vouchers appealing to landlords?

10. Assistance animals
Fair housing laws permit a tenant to have an assistance animal, whether a trained service animal or an emotional support animal. Tenant must have a disability, and the animal must assist the tenant in managing the symptoms of the disability. Landlords can ask for verification on non-obvious disabilities.

11. What can a tenant do if they are denied for a reason they think is discriminatory?
Talk to the landlord
Consult with an attorney – Mass Fair Housing Center, CLA
Sue the landlord
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Court (Housing, State Superior, Federal)
Can ask for emergency relief, like “freezing the apartment”

12. Subsidized apartments – structured process
Tenants must meet basic eligibility standards – family, elderly or disabled individual with low level of income. Two levels of screening – basic background, and then criminal record.

13. First level of screening
Eviction history (including nonpayment of rent)
Debt to another housing authority
Landlord references
Truthfulness on application

14. Challenging a denial
Appeal and appeal quickly!!! (“I want a hearing to appeal this decision”)
Review the file before the hearing
Attend the hearing - informal setting
Can bring an advocate
Present “mitigating” factors, or evidence to disprove the housing provider’s reasons.

15. Second level of screening – criminal record (CORI)
Only reach this stage if the tenant passes the first stage
APPEAL and appeal quickly!
Look at the record the housing provider has
Review their CORI policy
Identify dismissal and pending charges – HUD has issued guidance on the issue of arrests
Present mitigating factors at the hearing: type of crime, passage of time, character references
Addiction? Reasonable accommodation for a disability if no longer in active use.

16. Questions?