Racist if dont rent to criminals

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The Department of Housing and Urban Development warned last week that landlords who refuse to rent to anyone with a criminal record are in violation of the Fair Housing Act and can be prosecuted and fined for racial discrimination.

issued on April 4, the federal agency announced that any landlord with a blanket policy of not renting to people with a criminal conviction is effectively discriminating on the basis of race or national origin. "Because of widespread racial and ethnic disparities in the US criminal justice system," HUD's new guidelines read, "criminal history-based restrictions on access to housing are likely disproportionately to burden African-Americans and Hispanics. . . . [T]herefore such a practice would violate the Fair Housing Act."

because blacks and Hispanics commit crimes and go to prison at than whites, a policy of automatically rejecting applicants with a criminal past will have a “disparate impact” on different racial groups