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Housing

Everyone should have housing that meets their needs, regardless of their circumstances.

We investigate how online tenant screening services and digital records systems operate, and how they impact access to housing. For many people, access to housing depends on a background check into criminal, eviction, and credit records. These records are error prone, misleading, and discriminatory, keeping housing out of reach for those who need it most. Advocates across the country have worked to pass laws expanding access to housing and limiting the negative impacts of background checks in tenant screening. We aim to support and further those efforts.

Featured

Tenants Pay the Price

Mariah de Leon and Natasha Duarte

We wrote an issue brief analyzing the pitfalls of portable tenant screening reports and encouraging policymakers to address rental application fees by banning them altogether.

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Latest work in this issue area

All work in this issue area
Comments to the FHFA on tenant protections

We submitted comments to the Federal Housing Finance Agency emphasizing the importance of protecting renters from unnecessarily restrictive tenant screening practices.

Mariah de Leon and Natasha Duarte

Response to the FTC's request for information on tenant screening technologies

We responded to the Federal Trade Commission’s request for information on tenant screening technologies, demonstrating how they drive housing insecurity and discrimination.

Natasha Duarte and Mariah de Leon

Tenant Screening Companies Profit from Eviction Records, Driving Housing Insecurity

Our op-ed in Shelterforce on how tenant screening and eviction records drive housing insecurity.

Natasha Duarte and Tinuola Dada

How to Seal Eviction Records

We wrote an issue brief offering guidance and recommendations for advocates and policymakers who seek to draft or support eviction record sealing laws.

Tinuola Dada and Natasha Duarte

Selected press and events

Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law Community Teach-in on Algorithmic Housing Discrimination

Natasha Duarte was a panelist at the Center on Privacy & Technology’s virtual teach-in on algorithmic housing discrimination in DC.

PolicyLink Unlocking Our Housing Futures: Tenant Screening and Fair Housing

Mariah de Leon and Natasha Duarte spoke with PolicyLink about the oppressive policies, bad data, and unfounded predictions that landlords use to screen potential tenants.

The White House The White House's Panel Discussions to Inform the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights

Natasha Duarte spoke on a panel hosted by the White House’s OSTP on current and emerging uses of technology that impact equity of opportunity in employment, education, and housing.

The Hill Trump officials challenge tech over housing discrimination

Miranda Bogen: “Any ad platform that allows this sort of ad-targeting, or that tries to optimize delivery to the right kind of people, will have to grapple with the same sort of issues that Facebook has been called out for.”