Coming to a location near you (sure now it is just NYC but this stuff spreads like wildfire, folks)

A controversial bill prohibiting Big Apple landlords from performing criminal background checks on prospective tenants – even those convicted of murder and other heinous crimes – is on a fast track to becoming law.

At least 30 of the City Council’s 51 members have agreed to back the “Fair Chance for Housing Act,” which is set to go before the Council’s Committee on Civil Rights for its first public hearing on Dec. 8, records show.

Thanks fo9r the heads up. In the people's republic of NJ we're not allowed to ask - or disqualify for most criminal offenses but we can still look.

It's not right... does this cover sex offenders too? I didn't look it up but I honestly don't feel comfortable about not being able to know WHO is living in your property.

I'm not in NYC but it won't take long as we all know...

I am behind what HUD did where they made it where you can't just "blanket statement" no criminal history... You should look at it and make a rational decision (how long ago, the seriousness of the crime, any reoccurring charges, etc). However, when they just come out and state "you can't look or determine at all from it"... that's not right.

If you are a NYC LL suffering under rent control, now is your chance to move in hardened criminal types next to your long term rent controlled tenants with no liability due to the new law. Wonder how the 60 year old tenant paying $300 per month for a rent controlled apartment is going to like a mugger, robber or murderer next door? If the NY tenants voted for this, let them get what they voted for. Moving the Morlocks next door to the Eloi - should be interesting to see how that works out! Guessing the LL will soon have a vacancy and can raise the rent to market after the Eloi gets "harvested" by the Morlock. --201.140.xxx.xx

Unfortunately, it's going to take a heinous crime to stop or reverse this kind of thing. Some little kid in an apartment building is going to get attacked by a neighbor with a history, and if the news picks it up, the politicians will be falling all over themselves to propose new requirements.

In Los Angeles, law makes came up with a dozy of an idea for additional money stream. With Coved, they couldn't keep the jail house's full. So all of the "early" release prisoners needed places to stay. Why not pull the wool over the eyes of the dumb landlords. Offer them additional Section 8 tenants.

Say the City had already screened them and they passed. Offer an incentive. The City will give the landlord a $500 deposit and guarantee the tenants portion of the rent for the first 6 months.

The guy they tried to shove down my throat saying I can not reject Section 8 tenants, was a 5 time looser. Guilty of robbery, check fraud, auto theft, drunk and disorderly and owing back child support.

I had to tell the city that someone else beat this applicant to the punch. Their qualifications were:

1-Having a job for the past 10 years with the same company.

2-Good credit with a 720 Fico Score.

3-Paid their rent on time, by themselves, with no aid.

4-Owned a vehicle, paid off-Toyota Rav4.

5-Does not Smoke, Drink nor uses drugs.

Hey, you folks are good enough to be able to use your excellent screening and eliminate the bad applicants even without criminal background checks.

Let the corrupt, foolish politicians play their games, they always will.

You just be smart enough to avoid letting those lowlife politicians damage your life or the lives of good tenants.

No surprise what those politicians are doing. After all, are those lowlife politicians very different than the criminals they are trying to force into your units??

Folks, this is the reality. I rent to citizens "re-entering society" on a regular basis. Without exception they've been great. They do NOT want to go back to the Big House, and if there ever were a problem, I can threaten to call their parole officer. How many of you can do that with your tenants?

They need somewhere to live. If we don't offer a solution, the powers that be will do it for us, and we won't like it.

I rented to two sex offenders last month. Carefully screened? You betcha! For one, it was far in the rear-view mirror and seemed likely to be part of an angry ex-girlfriend's attempt to get revenge. For the other one, it was "importuning a minor" and sounds like it was a set-up. He was convicted of "criminal tools" too. The tool? His cell phone, which COULD have been used improperly. Never mind that it wasn't...

I think a tactic to thwart this is not so much getting heartless , money grubbing, landlords involved (which if you get any press it will be negative from most news teams) but the groups that have had terrible things that have happened to them by bad people that were let out early from jail, or known to do bad, things and been in the system but only had their hands slapped by the courts.

Now in our state, some of the border states sent a relatively few of the illegals to the wealthy areas of our state. These areas has posted signs that they welcomed the poor illegals, But it was a different story when they actually showed up. They were sent away very quickly, (now I'm not saying these illegals were all bad) .most I assume were good people) but where they were bussed to, were some areas of huge million and multimillion dollar houses with lots of room and very few occupants. Certainly they could house at least some of them.

I tried to ask the news outlets that were covering about how heartless these southern states were doing in sending a few of them north,.but not covering how with all the resources these wealthy people had they we not offering them shelter in these huge properties.

Of course,no response from any of them.

I often felt that it should be eaiser to access more information of just who sponsored these bills,and some the top supporters and had their names attached to them.

Well if there is a silver lining to this - it will be hard to hold the landlord accountable once a mishaps occurs. The person with the "deep pockets" is just following the law.