In July, the Equal Rights Center (ERC) of Washington, D.C., in partnership with Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and NLIHC member Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC), secured an important legal victory for certain tenants living in the D.C. area. After a yearlong investigation into allegations of discrimination in the tenant screening processes of AIR Property Management TRS, LLC (AIR), a lawsuit originally filed in February of 2024 was settled, with the result that AIR must now update its tenant screening processes in three buildings located in the Northwest Quadrant of D.C. – Latrobe Apartment Homes in Logan Circle, Upton Place in Cathedral Heights, and Vaughan Place in McLean Gardens – in order to ensure equal access for all applicants, including those with Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs).
Among the specific allegations against AIR were accusations that the company:
- Preemptively disqualified applicants to Latrobe Apartment Homes and Vaughan Place by publicizing that said applicants would be denied if they had prior felony convictions and/or eviction records.
- Instituted unlawful requirements for HCV holders by mandating minimum credit scores.
- Created burdensome requirements for applicants with criminal records more than seven years old and evictions more than three years old, both unlawful practices in the District of Columbia.
The resulting Cooperation Agreement included an acknowledgement that AIR will comply with D.C. law and will not illegally deny applicants based on criminal records that are older than seven years, eviction records that are older than three years, or source of income. For applicants using housing subsidies, including HCVs, AIR will abide by D.C. law and not take credit scores into consideration. Additionally, AIR must not create burdensome application requirements based on criminal records, eviction records, or source of income.
“Policies that disqualify tenants based on their status as voucher holders, stale eviction records, or old and irrelevant conviction records are not only unlawful in the District of Columbia, but they are also immensely harmful,” said Joanna Wasik, deputy legal director at WLC. “Such exclusions perpetuate housing segregation and erect barriers to fair housing choice – primarily for low-income Black residents. We applaud AIR Properties for the Cooperation Agreement, which will ensure that it is a future role model for housing providers in the District.”
Fair and equitable tenant screening practices are critical for ensuring that the lowest-income and most marginalized renters are able to secure safe, stable, and affordable housing free of discrimination. Tenant screening practices, which can include third-party background and credit checks, are inherently harmful to the most vulnerable renter groups and often shut tenants out of housing. A report released by the National Consumer Law Center in 2023 found that 50% of landlords rarely disclosed screening criteria to tenants, while 13% of landlords never did. While there is a lack of transparency in what information landlords and property owners screen for in potential tenants, it is also important to note that tenant screening practices can often produce inaccurate information about tenants. A 2022 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) report found that tenant screening reports often include outdated or misleading information about arrests and criminal records but that reports might not include the full details about a tenant’s prior eviction record either.
Harmful screening practices can have disproportionate impacts on tenants who are recipients of the HCVs. For example, the inability to find housing within a certain time frame, especially in a tight rental market with limited housing options, can put individuals at risk of having to return their voucher, which can in turn force them to rejoin a years-long waiting list to receive assistance.
Additional reforms that AIR agreed to initiate include:
- Distributing an updated tenant screening policy to all employees that conforms to D.C. law.
- Eliminating source of income discrimination in the tenant screening process and asking that applicants disclose their having an HCV before credit and income screenings.
- Offering annual ERC training programs for all AIR employees who participate in the screening, leasing, and management processes.
- Providing continual testing to ensure that AIR complies with the aforementioned reforms.
“These protections are so important because individuals with housing vouchers, past evictions, or arrest or conviction records are often our most vulnerable and historically marginalized residents,” said Nadya Harrison, housing justice advocate and investigator with WLC. “Eliminating these irrational barriers to safe, stable housing is an essential step in moving towards an equitable society.”
The Housing Choice Voucher program was founded in 1974 as a part of massive restructuring of federal housing assistance for low-income families. The goal of the program is to provide monetary assistance, in the form of a voucher, to low-income families, the elderly, and disabled people so that they can afford decent, safe, and quality housing in the private market. Administered by HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) as well as nearly 2,100 state and local public housing agencies (PHAs), the program currently serves approximately 2 million families nationally and roughly 11,500 families in Washington, D.C.
Read the full lawsuit here.
Read the full Cooperation Agreement here.
Read more about the Housing Choice Voucher program here.