On April 12, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge sent a memo to agency staff instituting a HUD-wide effort to review programs and increase inclusivity of individuals with criminal histories. 

In the memo, Secretary Fudge directed all relevant HUD offices, including the Office of Housing, to identify all existing HUD regulations, guidance documents, and other policies that may pose barriers to housing people with criminal histories. This review includes regulatory and sub-regulatory documents like model leases and other agreements.

By October 14, 2022, HUD offices are directed to propose updates and amendments to agency documents and guidance to make HUD programs as inclusive as possible. Programs identified in the memo as participating in the review include, but are not limited to, the following programs:

• Multifamily Housing
• Public Housing
• The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)
• Voucher programs
• Homeless Assistance Grants
• Community Development Block Grants
• Housing assisted by the HOME Investment Partnerships program

According to the memo, the review should include an assessment of each regulation or document based on legal permissibility and practical feasibility to implement more inclusive policies. The same assessment applies to any policy or document currently under development. 

The HUD memo builds on previous guidance from HUD’s Office of General Counsel that calls on housing providers to “treat people as individuals rather than reducing them to their criminal histories.” Issued in 2016, the previous OGC guidance sets out best practices for housing providers, including:

• Avoiding exclusions based on arrest records only;
• Ensuring reliance on conviction history is based actually promoting safety; and
• Ensuring that exclusion based in part on conviction history also takes into account mitigating circumstances (time passed since conviction, good tenant history, evidence of rehabilitation, etc.).

“At HUD, we recognize that individuals with criminal histories too often face daunting and unnecessary barriers to obtaining and maintaining housing, including public housing, HUD assisted housing, and HUD-insured housing, which are often the only types of housing they can afford,” write Secretary Fudge in the memo. “As we seek to implement an equity agenda, it is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that, to the full extent permitted by law, we are administering HUD programs in an inclusive way and that we are requiring and encouraging our program partners to be similarly inclusive.”

LeadingAge will work with our housing provider members to provide feedback to the agency as HUD offices undergo their review in the coming 6 months. To provide feedback to LeadingAge, reach out to Juliana (jbilowich@leadingage.org).