Criminal Conviction Criteria

In April 2016, HUD released a memo addressing potential fair housing violations in regard to landlords' criminal conviction rental criteria and disparate impact of that criteria on members of protected classes. Multifamily NW has approved updated Rental Criteria on the Rental Application for criminal conviction history. The National Apartment Association (NAA) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) published a White Paper to give our members and the industry further clarification to HUD's memo.

In February 2018, the City of Seattle outlawed nearly all criminal conviction screening criteria, except for those individuals on a federal registry. The Government & Public Affairs Committee is monitoring how the market will adapt to this new regulation and where copycat efforts will be made locally.