We truly understand the desire to be comfortable with whomever is renting your space. Our advice to reconsider the use of background checks is primarily geared towards landlords, but it is a great opportunity to encourage all members of our community to re-evaluate the way we interact with and speak about formerly incarcerated individuals. Many formerly incarcerated individuals face continued discrimination and suspicion after they have served their sentence, especially when it comes to seeking housing. Listings Project wants to recognize the racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system including disproportionate and unequal rates of arrests and convictions, and harsher sentencing of African Americans and Latinx populations in particular.
To learn more, please read our resource article "How Background Checks Harm Formerly Incarcerated People"