Overview
HUD's direction on criminal history screening has reversed sharply since 2023. Back then, HUD was moving toward guidance encouraging individualized, case-by-case assessment and discouraging blanket denials based on criminal history. On November 25, 2025, HUD rescinded that entire body of guidance, including the 2016 and 2022 documents that had discouraged broad criminal-history bans, and reframed criminal screening as a safety obligation for HUD-assisted housing providers. The Fair Housing Act itself hasn't changed, and courts still apply disparate-impact analysis, so a blanket "no criminal record" policy still carries legal risk even with the older guidance gone.
What Changed Since 2023
In 2023, HUD signaled it would propose new rules encouraging individualized assessment of applicants with criminal history, disregarding records unlikely to bear on tenancy fitness (arrest records without conviction, sealed or expunged records, older or non-violent convictions). That direction didn't move forward as proposed.
Instead, on November 25, 2025, HUD's Secretary issued a letter rescinding three key guidance documents that had shaped screening practice for the better part of a decade:
- Notice PIH 2015-19, which discouraged relying on arrest records alone to deny admission or evict tenants
- The 2016 Office of General Counsel guidance, which had cautioned that criminal-history policies producing a disparate impact could violate the Fair Housing Act
- The 2022 Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity memo, which reiterated those limits and outlined investigative procedures for evaluating screening policies
HUD's stated rationale: the rescinded guidance created confusion and had a "chilling effect" on owners' willingness to enforce safety-related screening and termination policies. The letter frames screening as an affirmative obligation tied to providing safe housing, not just a discretionary practice.
What This Means in Practice
For HUD-assisted housing specifically, owners and public housing authorities now have broader discretion to consider criminal history without the constraints the rescinded guidance had imposed. HUD has also proposed removing its disparate-impact regulation altogether, as of a January 2026 proposal, though that hasn't fully played out.
Importantly, none of this repeals the Fair Housing Act itself. Courts continue to apply disparate-impact analysis under the statute, so a blanket "no criminal record" policy remains one of the more legally exposed positions a landlord can take, even with HUD's own guidance withdrawn. A growing number of states and cities have also passed their own fair-chance housing laws that restrict how criminal history can be used in screening, independent of what HUD does at the federal level.
What This Means for Miami Landlords
Individualized assessment remains the more defensible approach, regardless of the federal guidance shifts. Consider the nature and severity of any conviction, how much time has passed, and whether it's genuinely relevant to tenancy risk, rather than applying a blanket exclusion. Check for any Florida or local fair-chance requirements that may apply independent of the federal landscape, and consult a real estate attorney before finalizing a screening policy, especially given how much has shifted since 2023.
