The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service (RHS) has published: “Program Requirements and Best Practices regarding denial of admission in USDA Multifamily Housing (MFH) administered programs.” The memorandum discusses the ubiquitous use of tenant screening reports and how these reports may contain inaccurate information leading to the unjustified denial of housing to prospective residents.

The memorandum serves to remind RHS multifamily owners of relevant legal requirements around disclosing denials of admission to applicants, and to share best practices around the use of tenant screening reports and the disclosure of the contents of tenant screening reports to tenants. It also urges owners to provide a copy of any consumer screening report they relied on when making an adverse action determination to an applicant.