New Jersey landlords prohibited from asking potential tenants about criminal records

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) on Friday signed into law legislation that prevents landlords from requesting a person’s criminal history on housing applications. 

The governor signed the bill, called the “Fair Chance in Housing Act,” during a ceremony commemorating the first state and national observance of Juneteenth, the day marking when news of slavery’s end reached Texas in 1865, nearly two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Murphy during the signing ceremony praised the bill as just one way to address policies that have disproportionately impacted Black and minority populations in the state. 

“As we commemorate Juneteenth, we must commit to both remembering the past and continuing to take action to ensure communities of color, especially Black Americans, achieve the full equity they deserve,” the governor said in a statement. 

“Today, I am proud to sign the Fair Chance in Housing Act into law and work to level what has been for too long an uneven playing field when it comes to access to housing,” he added. 

Commemorating Juneteenth by signing the Fair Chance in Housing Act. WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/kJWEVdAt3x

— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 18, 2021

Under the legislation, also known as the “ban the box” bill by housing advocates, landlords are only permitted to request information on a prospective tenant’s application if they are a registered sex offender, or were convicted for making meth in federally-assisted housing. 

Landlords in New Jersey can now only run a criminal background check after a conditional offer is made, and can consider offenses of the first degree within six years, second- or third-degree crimes from the previous four years or fourth degree offenses from within a year. 

Eric Dobson, deputy director of local nonprofit Fair Share Housing, said in a statement shared by the governor’s office that with the signing of the housing bill, Murphy has “put New Jersey at the forefront of criminal justice reform by helping to dismantle the impacts of a criminal justice system plagued by systemic racism.” 

“Every person in our state deserves a home,” Dobson said. “The Fair Chance in Housing Act sits at the intersection of housing, civil rights and criminal justice reform and will make it easier for returning citizens to rebuild their lives by removing discriminatory barriers to housing that drive up recidivism.” 

The governor’s office in its announcement Friday identified housing instability as “a known driver of recidivism,” with 30 percent of people released from prison in New Jersey returning within three years of their release, according to NJ.com. 

The signing comes a day after President Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, officially marking June 19 as a federal holiday. 

Federal agencies and businesses across the country observed the day on Friday this year, when Juneteenth falls on Saturday.