This is a version of a post I’ve shared with various groups about the struggles people with criminal backgrounds face as they search for housing in their post-incarceration lives.
Housing is a basic human right for every single person in this country. That includes the formerly incarcerated. No one loses their “human being” status after leaving a corrections facility.
Homelessness Wasn’t Part of Anyone’s Sentence
Current housing policies allow landlords or property management companies to deny housing to anyone who has a criminal record of any kind. This can also include arrests that didn’t result in convictions.
While there’s leeway for a landlord or property manager to make special considerations for someone with a criminal history, it’s entirely at their discretion. Housing policies also provide lots of loopholes to avoid lawsuits over denying rental applications from those with criminal backgrounds.
No law says someone who has a criminal record must be given housing. They can be denied for every rental available in this country, rendering them permanently homeless. And it’s not illegal.
This is bullshit.
Without access to traditional housing, people with criminal records have few choices:
- Relying on friends/family, if there are any (sometimes incarceration ruins those relationships)
- Group housing
- Homeless shelters
- Living on the street
None of these set someone up for success in finding employment or seeking, let alone maintaining, sobriety.
My husband and I are both ex-felons. We were homeless for just over three years because we knew how hard it would be to find a place to rent. It took us two and a half years to decide we were ready to enter that battle.
This is the story of our six-month process of going from homeless to housed with criminal record barriers.
We Had No Idea How Bad It Would Get
It was an emotionally brutal experience to look for a place to rent while living in an old RV trailer on the street. There were countless times we felt hopeless and wanted to give up. Thankfully, we were never in that place at the same time. When I felt defeated, my husband lifted me and kept fighting for us; when he was down, I stayed strong and kept moving forward.
We were rejected by two different large property management corporations after running our background checks. The first refused to provide the paperwork we needed to appeal our denial. The second sent an appeal decision upholding the original denial. It was the nastiest piece of written correspondence I’ve received without actual profanity in it.
That was the point when I completely broke down and decided to give up. Not just on finding housing. On life.
Even though he was deep into his addiction by this time, my husband somehow pulled me through.
One More Time
After our first two disappointments, we turned our housing search to smaller, older apartment communities. One afternoon my husband noticed a “Now Leasing” sign on a building along the MAX line. I looked them up online, liked what I saw, and scheduled a tour the next day.
After being shown around by the building manager, my husband and I disclosed our criminal background situation. We asked for honest feedback about our chances of being approved if we applied.
This was a hard thing to do with a stranger we’d met all of 15 minutes earlier, but we went with the vibe we got from the guy. I knew we might hear, “Yeah, sorry, it sounds like you’d be denied here too.” But I felt it was better to provide as much information upfront to avoid losing yet another application fee and going through the emotional wringer for 2-4 more weeks.
Instead, we learned the building was owned by a small property management company and their employees worked in the offices of their apartment buildings. This meant there was more leeway for individual assessments for applicants because everything was in-house. The manager told us even if it did go to an appeal, we wouldn’t be treated as just a number on an application – we’d be able to present our side of things.
Being on Trial in the Court of Public Opinion
I submitted our applications as if we were already appealing a denial, and I covered all possible reasons for a denial. Our application packet included:
- Letters from both of us that explained the mitigating circumstances of our crimes.
- Character reference letters from reputable people we know who are also small business owners.
- Financial records to prove we met the income requirements. I’m a self-employed freelancer so I had to put together spreadsheet income reports and provide bank records to back up my report figures.
- A letter to explain my lack of recent rental history. I’d owned five different homes, been incarcerated for seven years, and been homeless for three years post-release since I last rented an apartment.
- A letter that explained how stable housing would change our lives and essentially asked the property management company to give us a chance to prove ourselves. This wasn’t easy to write, but it felt necessary.
We went into it anticipating a denial based on our criminal histories and proactively addressed any concern that could be brought up. We didn’t leave anything to chance this time because each previous denial had given us new information to work with.
A couple of weeks later, we got the good news that our applications had been conditionally approved. We had to pay a larger deposit because of the conditional approval, but we’d been building up savings for six months and were able to cover the additional deposit cost.
We moved in the day we received the call, which was also the day a wicked snowstorm hit the city. Nothing was keeping us from sleeping under our new roof that night.
It’s been nine months since the last morning we woke up homeless.
What We Learned About Searching for Housing When You Have a Criminal Record
1. Don’t rely on agencies or programs that are (allegedly) intended to help ex-felons find housing.
To this day, the emails and voicemails I left with the few organizations we found to assist ex-felons with housing have gone unanswered. This includes housing communities in our city that were built specifically to house the previously incarcerated (PI) segment of the population.
I’m not saying don’t reach out to them to make inquiries and get on their radar. It certainly can’t hurt. But unless your area has amazing resources for ex-felons, it’s likely going to be up to you to make this happen. You have to advocate for yourself.
2. Traditional big property management companies are largely a waste of application fees and time for ex-felons.
Their rental criteria are exclusive and rigid when it comes to criminal background information. The more serious your offense, the more unyielding they are, and an appeal is only going to drag out the decision they made in the first place. They’ll look for reasons to not change their original opinion of you.
3. Third-party screening companies are on the lookout for people “like us.”
These are the screening companies that run background and credit checks for large, newer, or “chic-chic” apartment communities. They’re primed to spot anything that even hints at arrest or conviction records. Once they see criminal background information, they’ll often add other reasons to the denial to make your appeal harder. They’ve been instructed to only approve people who, on paper, have never done anything wrong.
In general, steer clear of large rental community corporations.
4. Find apartment communities that are struggling with filling units.
These tend to be smaller and older buildings, maybe even a little shabby if you take a close look at them. I’m not talking about communities that are full of illegal activity. If you’re an ex-felon who’s serious about starting a new life, you don’t want to live where task force units show up all the time.
5. Look for the rental criteria for the rental you’re interested in– most places post it online.
Read the section on criminal background information to see exactly what it says. If you think you even have a chance of being approved, schedule a tour as soon as possible to get an in-person relationship going. DO NOT apply without having a face-to-face viewing/tour first.
6. Become a master of body language and reading between the lines.
During the viewing/tour, you’ll have to “read” the person you meet with to gauge how inclusive the community is. You’ll be able to get a feel for what kind of people they consider the current tenants to be and what an ideal new tenant would be.
Give them lots of time to tell you about the unit, the building, the other residents, and the management. If they’ve got a decent amount of units to fill, they’re trying to sell you on renting – so let them tell you everything. The more time you spend interacting with them, the more you’re building a human connection with them.
7. If you’ve gotten a good vibe, put your cards on the table.
When the time comes for you to ask questions (usually after they’re done with their viewing/tour spiel), you should be able to make a decision. If you’ve picked up signals that this isn’t a rental you’d have a snowball’s chance of getting, simply thank the viewing agent for their time and leave.
But if you’ve gotten a good vibe from the person and you feel like a positive rapport has been established, now is the time to disclose that there will be criminal background information returned for a background check and how long ago the conviction was.
If it’s serious, let them know you have a serious conviction – especially if it’s a violent one. They’ll find out anyway, so be transparent about it. I don’t know if telling them the specific charge at that time is what you should do. You’ll have to make that call based on how the meeting is going. But you do want to set expectations for what kind of housing barrier you’re up against.
8. Ask them directly what your chances of approval are in light of the seriousness of your offense.
If the answer is “Not good,” or “No chance,” be prepared for this and be gracious about it.
Thank the person for giving you a candid answer. Tell them you appreciate their honesty because you don’t want to waste their time or your time by applying if the outcome is a guaranteed denial. And then politely leave.
Again, be gracious. No outbursts of any kind. No storming out. If need be, put on an Oscar Award-winning performance of someone calm, cool, and collected as you leave. You can process your real feelings once you’re well away from the rental property.
You’d be surprised how much apartment complexes share about prospective applicants. You don’t want to be unofficially blacklisted because you reacted negatively at the end of a viewing or property tour.
Not to mention, bad behavior simply adds to the negative stereotype that allows landlords and property management companies to justify denying housing to anyone who has been justice-involved.
9. But if the person doesn’t shoot you down and gives you reason to feel optimistic about your chances, go for it – apply!
Have all your supporting documentation ready to submit with your application. Have it written before you apply and update the rental address information as you need to. DON’T WAIT FOR AN APPEAL TO DO THIS. Anything you would submit as part of an appeal should be turned in with your initial application.
10. Be a master-level communicator
Keep the lines of communication open with the apartment community management itself and anyone at the property management company (if it’s a third-party arrangement) during your application process.
This should go without saying, but respond right away (the same day) to any emails or phone calls you get during the application process. The more helpful and cooperative you are, the better.
11. Check in once a week to see if there’s a status update or any movement on your application.
Always end your communication with “If there’s anything else you need from me or you have any questions at all, just let me know.” You want them to know you’re willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.
12. We wish we’d learned this one sooner – find a caseworker who can take you as a client.
Start by contacting mental/behavioral health agencies in your county to find out how to be assigned a caseworker. They’ll know about second-chance housing if it exists in the area. It’s not the most ideal housing, but it might be an “any port in a storm” situation you’re in.
If there aren’t second-chance housing options, a caseworker can assist as you apply for rentals that aren’t specifically for ex-felons. They might also be able to help you find places that use Low Barrier rental criteria and help you with paperwork that gives you advantages in the application process.
As we were going through our third rental application, we found a caseworker who provided ESA paperwork for our pittie mix to get around breed discrimination issues. She also put together disability paperwork based on my husband’s length of incarceration (22 years) and the mental health services he received during that time. This paperwork would have given us an edge if we’d had to appeal a denial.
13. Be in it to win it.
This can be a long journey and you have to go into it with a long-haul mindset because you don’t know how long it’s going to take. You’ll get tired, you’ll get frustrated, you’ll have a lot of highs/lows, and you’ll feel like giving up more than once. But each day you have to make the choice to get after it again.
14. Develop a thick skin.
You’re going to face rejection because the world’s full of people who think in black and white: “A person with a criminal conviction is a bad person and bad people aren’t welcome here.”
That’s basically what the second property management company told us.
Be able to take bad news graciously and wait until you’re somewhere emotionally safe to process it.
15. Have an emotional support network.
You’re going to need people in your life who will remind you that you’ve fulfilled what was required of you by law and you’ve paid your debt to society — it’s why you’re in the free world again. You’re still a human being and you have the right to a decent place to live.
Make sure you have voices of support lifting you up when the bad days happen. I can’t stress this enough.
16. Don’t give up.
You can do this, but only if you DON’T GIVE UP. Keep going until your victory comes and then share your story with others. In doing so, you’re extending a hand of hope back to those who are still going through the struggle. They need to hear that people with criminal backgrounds can find housing other than SROs or group home housing.
I sincerely hope something I’ve shared helps at least one person with a criminal record find their next home.
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