Abstract
When individuals are released from prison, the biggest predictor of whether they will reoffend or successfully reenter society is whether the recently released individual has access to stable housing. Unfortunately, nearly every avenue to housing requires passing a criminal background check. Recognizing this as posing a nearly insurmountable barrier to accessing stable housing upon release from prison, Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and San Francisco, California have all enacted ordinances regulating the use of background checks to help ensure access to stable housing for formerly incarcerated individuals. Madison, Wisconsin, and other Wisconsin cities had similar ordinances that regulated the use of background checks in housing. Those ordinances were abrogated in 2011 through Act 108, which prohibited localities from regulating landlords and instead reserved that power to the state government. In the eleven years that have passed since Act 108, the state legislature has not passed any legislation that would alleviate the burden of finding stable housing for recently released convicts. This Comment suggests that, in light of guidance issued in 2016 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development which explained that pretextual use of criminal background checks to deny housing may be actionable under the Fair Housing Act, the inability of localities to regulate the use of criminal records in housing prevents Wisconsin localities from “affirmatively further[ing] fair access to housing for all.”
Recommended Citation
Taylor N. Haefele, Wisconsin's 2011 Act 108, Legislative Inaction, and Severe Racial Disparity: A Recipe for a Fair Housing Violation, 23 Marq. Ben & Soc. Welfare (2022).
Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Housing Law Commons, Social Welfare Law Commons