Understanding the Just Housing Amendment: Landlord Must Use Two-Step Process After Accepting Application Fee

Under the Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance, after accepting an application fee, landlords who consider an individual’s covered criminal history must perform an individualized assessment prior to denying any application for housing. 

STEP ONE: Prequalification

• During this step, a landlord may screen a tenant to determine whether the tenant satisfies all the application criteria such as income, rental history, credit score, pets, etc. Criminal background checks cannot be performed during Step One. 
• When this first step is completed, the landlord must either 1) pre-qualify the applicant based on all criteria except those related to criminal history; or 2) deny the application based on failure to satisfy the prequalification criteria. 

STEP TWO: CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK

• Only after the landlord prequalifies an applicant may a landlord conduct a criminal background check (but not mandatory). 

  If the landlord sees a conviction from the past three years, they must do complete an individualized assessment before denying the application. The following list of factors can be considered. This list does not include all factors that a landlord can consider: 

  • The nature and severity of the criminal offense and how recently it occurred. 
  • The nature of the sentencing. 
  • The number of criminal convictions in the past three (3) years. 
  • The length of time that has passed since the applicant’s most recent convictions. 
  • The age of the individual at the time the criminal offense occurred. 
  • Evidence of rehabilitation. 
  • The individual history as a tenant before and/or after the conviction. 
  • Whether the criminal conviction(s) was related to the applicant’s disability. 
  • If the applicant is a person with a disability, whether any reasonable accommodation could be provided to lessen any risk. 

If the landlord still denies the tenant housing after the individualized assessment, the tenant may dispute the information in the criminal background check and provide any evidence of rehabilitation.