Criminal History Record Checks for Federally Assisted Housing Applications: 2023 Report

Background

Around five million low-income U.S. households, including over 220,000 Illinois households, utilize federally assisted housing.^[1] Nearly nine out of ten households receiving assistance are supported by three rental assistance programs overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and administered locally by public housing authorities (PHAs) (see Text Box 1).^[2] Like other individuals with limited incomes, those with criminal histories may apply for federally assisted housing to support themselves and their families. Yet the policies of PHAs vary regarding the circumstances under which people with criminal justice histories can obtain and retain public housing. Prior research has found that housing authorities were more restrictive towards those with criminal histories than required by federal law.^[3] Such restrictions may be due, in part, to the discretion and variability of authorities’ admission decisions as well as to the broad language in guidance provided by HUD policies. Restrictions can reduce the number of persons with criminal histories who apply for, and obtain, subsidized housing, thereby exacerbating the challenges to securing affordable housing.^[4]

Rental Assistance Programs

Housing Choice Voucher Program assists individuals and families with low incomes use vouchers to help pay for privately owned housing.

Project-Based Rental Assistance assists households with low incomes to live in affordable homes by contracting with private owners to rent some or all of the units in their housing developments to low-income families.

Public Housing assists low-income families to live in public housing development units.

The Housing Authorities Act (310 ILCS 10/8.10a) (the Act) states that all Illinois PHAs are to collect and report the following information annually to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA):

1. The number of applications submitted for admission to federally assisted housing.
2. The number of applications submitted for admission to federally assisted housing of individuals with a criminal history record, if the authority is conducting criminal history records checks of applicants or other household members.
3. The number of applications for admission to federally assisted housing that were denied on the basis of a criminal history record, if the authority is conducting criminal history records checks of applicants or other household members.
4. The number of criminal records assessment hearings requested by applicants for housing who were denied federally assisted housing on the basis of a criminal history records check.
5. The number of denials for federally assisted housing that were overturned after a criminal records assessment hearing.

This information must also be disaggregated by the race, ethnicity, and sex of housing applicants (310 ILCS 10/8.10a) (Appendix A).

In fulfillment of this Act, ICJIA produces annual reports which are made available for free on its website. This is the report for calendar year 2023 and provides information shared with ICJIA by PHAs.

Data Collection Process

Administration of Data Collection Tool

ICJIA staff contacted officials at the Illinois Association of Housing Authorities (IAHA) who agreed to distribute ICJIA’s 2023 calendar year data collection tool to their association’s member list via email. Three Illinois PHAs who were not IAHA members were contacted individually via email and phone to ensure the tool was received and accessible. The data collection tool was created using Qualtrics online software and could be accessed via a URL link as well as a scannable QR code (Appendix B). Data collection began on January 12, 2024, and ended on February 20, 2024. Four reminder emails were sent to PHAs to encourage participation during its open period (on January 22 and 29 and on February 5 and 9). During data collection, ICJIA staff were available to assist PHAs by phone or email to address any questions or issues. ICJIA staff also directly contacted non-respondents one week before closing the data collection tool via phone, including voice messages, or email to confirm PHAs received the tool and to offer additional support. Out of 108 Illinois PHAs organized under the Act, 80 responded, resulting in a participation rate of 74.1% for the calendar year 2023 data collection.

Data Analysis

After exporting the results from the online Qualtrics tool, ICJIA staff analyzed the data provided by PHAs using Microsoft Excel. Following review, staff contacted PHAs with data that appeared incorrect (e.g., relatively very high or low reported numbers) or PHAs for whom there were multiple entries. The submitting authorities clarified these discrepancies and ICJIA staff adjusted the reported information accordingly.

Data Limitations

Despite our efforts for complete compliance by PHAs, the data had several limitations. First, not all Illinois PHAs submitted information. Second, ICJIA staff cannot verify the accuracy of the data reported. Finally, many PHAs provided incomplete or missing data. Like prior reporting under the Act,^[5] many PHAs shared their issues regarding the data collection process, data reporting, and data availability. PHA comments are shared in Appendix C.

Results

Respondents

Out of 108 Illinois PHAs organized under the Act, 80 responded, resulting in a participation rate of 74.1%. Of those who provided data, 62 were county housing authorities (77.5%), 16 were city housing authorities (20%), and two were housing authorities that are designated as a village/town (2.5%). Thirty-three of the 80 PHAs who submitted data were in the central region of the state (41.3%), 28 were in the southern region (35%), and 19 were in the northern region (23.8%). Of the 80 PHAs that reported data, 30 served areas with populations of less than 20,000 residents (37.5%), and 24 had populations between 20,000 and 40,000 (30%). Twelve PHAs served areas with populations between 40,000 and 100,000 (15%), and 14 served areas with populations over 100,000 (17.5%). Forty-four of the 80 PHAs (55%) were in urban areas and 36 (45%) were in rural areas. Table 1 provides details on the PHAs that provided data.

Table 1

Public Housing Authorities That Provided Data, 2023

Note. Population from the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate for 2022, the most current data available (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/IL/PST045223). Community type for city housing authorities was based on the designation of the county the city is in and used decennial (2010) census data. Counties with less than 50% of the population living in rural areas are classified as mostly urban; 50 to 99.9% are classified as mostly rural; 100% rural are classified as completely rural. (https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ua/County_Rural_Lookup_v4.pdf). *Indicates county-level housing authorities with city-level housing authorities within their jurisdiction. Those county housing authorities include the population of the cities located in the county.

Twenty-eight PHAs, or 25.9% of all 108 Illinois PHAs, did not provide calendar year 2023 data to ICJIA. Table 2 provides details on the housing authorities that did not provide data.

Table 2

Public Housing Authorities That Did Not Provide Data, 2023

Note. Population from the U.S. Census Bureau’s estimate for 2022, the most current data available (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/IL/PST045223). Community type for city housing authorities was based on the designation of the county the city is in and used decennial (2010) census data. Counties with less than 50% of the population living in rural areas are classified as mostly urban; 50 to 99.9% are classified as mostly rural; 100% rural are classified as completely rural. (https://www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/ua/County_Rural_Lookup_v4.pdf). *Indicates county-level housing authorities with city-level housing authorities within their jurisdiction. Those county housing authorities include the population of the cities located in the county.

Responses

The Illinois PHAs that reported to ICJIA had a total of 48,369 complete applications submitted in calendar year 2023 for admission to federally assisted housing (Figure 1).

Figure 1

The Flow of Applications for Federal Housing with Criminal Records and Subsequent Hearings

Note. Data were from 80 housing authorities reporting to ICJIA for calendar year 2023.

Table 3 provides details of the housing authority applications by gender for 2023. Overall, more females submitted applications for admission to federally assisted housing than males or other genders. Of the data on gender, PHAs did not provide gender information for 9% of submitted applications.

Table 3

Public Housing Authority Applications by Gender, 2023

Note. Data were from 80 housing authorities reporting to ICJIA for calendar year 2023. Percentages are of the row total.

Examining the columns provides a different breakdown. Of the 31,739 applications submitted by females, 1,043 (3.3%) had a criminal history record noted by authorities. Males had a slightly higher proportion of applications with a criminal history record (5.9%), and males also had a moderately higher rate of denial (31.4%) compared to females (21.6%). Male and female applicants appealed their denials at nearly the same rate, 21.5%, and 20.4%, respectively. However, 45.7% of denials were overturned for females as compared to 36.4% for males.

Table 4 provides details of the housing authority applications by race for 2023. Overall, Black or African American persons submitted more applications than any other race (23,319, 48.2%). White persons submitted 15,133 (31.3%) of all applications; and multi-racial, Asian, or persons of other races constituted 4.9% of applications submitted (with the remainder being of unknown or unreported race). Of the data on race, PHAs did not provide race information for 16% of all submitted applications.

Table 4

Public Housing Authority Applications by Race, 2023

Note. Data were from 80 housing authorities reporting to ICJIA for calendar year 2023. Percentages are of the row total.

Again, examining the columns offers a different breakdown of the data. Of the 15,133 applications submitted by White persons, 1,032 (6.8%) had a criminal history record noted by a PHA; of these, 243 (23.6%) were denied based on their criminal record; 62 of these 243 White persons (25.5%) requested an appeal hearing; and 17 of these requests (27.4%) had their denial overturned.

Of the 23,319 applications submitted by Black or African American persons, 650 (2.9%) had a criminal record history noted by a PHA. Of these 650 Black persons, 200 (30.8%) were denied based on their criminal record, 28 of whom (14%) requested an appeal hearing. Ten of these 28 (35.7%) had their denial overturned.

Of the 2,340 applications submitted by multi-racial, Asian, or persons of other races, 35 (1.5%) had a criminal history record noted by a PHA; five in this group of 35 (14.3%) were denied based on their record, and no applicant requested an appeal hearing.

Table 5 provides details of the housing authority applications by ethnicity for 2023. The data collection tool asked PHAs to report Hispanic/Latinx applicants. Therefore, we categorized all other applicants as either not Hispanic/Latinx or unknown. A small number of applicants were Hispanic/Latinx (Table 5).

Table 5

Public Housing Authority Applications by Ethnicity, 2023

Note. Data from 80 housing authorities reporting to ICJIA for calendar year 2023. Percentages are of the row total.

Looking within the columns, one can see that among applicants identified as Hispanic/Latinx, 39 (1.5%) had a criminal history reported by a PHA in calendar year 2023. Of these 39, seven (18%) were denied based on their criminal history record, and only one of them appealed; that denial was not overturned.

Summary of Feedback from Housing Authorities

The data collection tool asked housing authorities for feedback on their experiences with data reporting and data availability in the Federally Assisted Housing Records Check data collection process. Below, we briefly summarize the feedback shared. Comments from housing authorities are in Appendix C.

Staff and Software Issues

Respondents from some housing authorities noted that the data collection process and reporting were burdensome for staff to complete. Others reported challenges with software and its ability to easily generate or source the requested information of the Act.

Data Discrepancies or Challenges

Numerous PHAs shared that they could only provide incomplete information requested under the Act. In addition, a respondent from one housing authority stated it only collected data required by HUD and, because of this, did not track criminal history records information.