PolicyLink continues to expand the policy levers in our Anti-Displacement Toolkit to advance tenant protections and housing justice with a new addition: Eviction Records and Tenant Screening Protections. Tenants across the country are increasingly demanding stronger tenant screening protections and eviction record sealing policies that make it difficult for an eviction to influence a person’s housing stability into the far future. This tool provides an introduction to eviction record sealing policies and tenant screening regulations, and showcases innovative and impactful solutions from across the country to the unique housing crisis faced by low-income, Black, and Latinx tenants who are at a higher risk of being evicted. 
 

Within this tool, you will also find a map and policy scan that provides a national view of currently implemented, recently passed, and previously considered sealing, expungement, and tenant screening regulations across the country.

We are also sharing an exciting opportunity to comment on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) request for information about the public’s experience with housing applications and background check processes, or “tenant screening.” In order to unlock housing futures for everyone, the FTC and CFPB need to hear from real people’s experiences applying for housing and the ways that they can protect people from all backgrounds from harmful, discriminatory practices, and make it easier to access housing.

Read more about the opportunity to comment here and submit your comments to Stop Tenant Screening, a new comment portal that responds to the FTC and CFPB request for information, or submit directly to the federal government by May 10, 2023!  
 

Finally, register for Unlocking Our Housing Futures: Tenant Screening and Fair Housing webinar on May 2, 2023, at 1:30 pm ET/10:30 am PT! Join us to learn more about tenant screening and fair housing issues, the RFI from CFPB and FTC, and to strategize on how to tell your own story and shape policy to protect our housing futures.