A. Screening Versus Determining Eligibility

Screening for suitability of tenancy is not a determination of eligibility for the program.

1. Eligibility is a determination that an applicant family meets all of the criteria for the type of subsidy in the property. To be eligible a family must meet the income limits and provide specific information and documentation of other family information (i.e., SSNs, and citizenship information). Eligibility is discussed in detail in Chapter 3.

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2. Screening is a determination that an otherwise eligible household has the ability to pay rent on time and to meet the requirements of the lease.

• B. Key Requirements

  1. Owners are permitted to establish and apply written screening criteria to determine whether applicants will be suitable tenants. If an owner's review of information about the applicant indicates that the applicant will not be a suitable tenant, the owner may reject the application for assistance or tenancy.

  2. Owners must establish written screening criteria to prohibit the admission of certain individuals who have engaged in drug-related criminal behavior, or are subject to a State lifetime sex offender registration program, or are individuals whose abuse or pattern of abuse of alcohol interferes with the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents. Owners may choose to expand these requirements regarding prohibition of admission to certain applicants [24 CFR part 5, subpart I & J] .

  3. Owners must establish written procedures for using the EIV Existing Tenant Search. See D below.

  4. Screening criteria must be included in the tenant selection plan. (See paragraph 4-4.C and Figure 4-2.)

  5. Owners must apply screening criteria uniformly to all applicants to prevent discrimination and avoid fair housing violations.

  6. The screening of live-in aides at initial occupancy and the screening of persons or live-in aides to be added to the tenant household after initial occupancy involve similar screening activities. Both live-in aides and new additions to the tenant household must be screened for drug abuse and other criminal activity, including State lifetime registration as a sex offender, by applying the same criteria established for screening other applicants. In addition, owners may apply any other owner established applicant screening criteria to new household members in order to establish suitability for tenancy. Owner established screening criteria may also be applied to live-in aides, except for the criterion regarding the ability to pay rent on time because live-in aides are not responsible for rental payments.

  7. Police officers and other security or management personnel that reside in subsidized units are subject to the same screening criteria as other applicants.

  8. The costs of screening must not be charged to applicants. Such costs may be charged against the project operating account. A variation on this rule applies to cooperatives.

9. Certain types of screening are prohibited. See paragraph 4-8 below.

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• C. Screening For Drug Abuse and Other Criminal Activity

  1. Tenant selection plans must contain screening criteria that include standards for prohibiting admission of those who have engaged in drugrelated or criminal activity. The plan may, under certain circumstances, include additional provisions that deny admission to applicants for other drug and criminal activity.

  2. Owners must establish standards that prohibit admission of:

     • a. Any household containing a member(s) who was evicted in the last three years from federally assisted housing for drug-related criminal activity. The owner may, but is not required to, consider two exceptions to this provision:

       • (1) The evicted household member has successfully completed an approved, supervised drug rehabilitation program; or

       • (2) The circumstances leading to the eviction no longer exist (e.g., the household member no longer resides with the applicant household).

     • b. A household in which any member is currently engaged in illegal use of drugs or for which the owner has reasonable cause to believe that a member’s illegal use or pattern of illegal use of a drug may interfere with the health, safety, and right to peaceful enjoyment of the property by other residents;

     • c. Any household member who is subject to a State sex offender lifetime registration requirement; and

     • d. Any household member if there is reasonable cause to believe that member’s behavior, from abuse or pattern of abuse of alcohol, may interfere with the health, safety, and right to peaceful enjoyment by other residents. The screening standards must be based on behavior, not the condition of alcoholism or alcohol abuse.

  3. Owners may establish additional standards that prohibit admission if the owner determines that any household member is currently engaging in, or has engaged in, the following activities during a reasonable time before the admission decision:

     • a. Drug-related criminal activity. The owner may include additional standards beyond the required standards that prohibit admission in the case of eviction from federally assisted housing for drugrelated criminal activity and current drug use.

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• b. Violent criminal activity.

• c. Other criminal activity that threatens the health, safety, and right to peaceful enjoyment of the property by other residents or the health and safety of the owner, employees, contractors, subcontractors, or agents of the owner.

NOTE: . If an owner’s admission policy includes any of the activities above or similar restrictions that uses a standard regarding a household member’s current or recent actions, the owner may define the length of time prior to the admission decision during which the applicant must not have engaged in the criminal activity. The owner shall ensure that the relevant “reasonable” time period is uniformly applied to all applicants in a non-discriminatory manner and in accordance with applicable fair housing and civil rights laws.

4. An owner’s screening criteria also may include the following provisions:

   • a. Exclusion of culpable household members. An owner may require an applicant to exclude a household member when that member’s past or current actions would prevent the household from being eligible.

   • b. Drug or alcohol rehabilitation. When screening applications, an owner may consider whether the appropriate household member has completed a supervised drug or alcohol rehabilitation program. The owner may require appropriate documentation of the successful completion of a rehabilitation program.

   • c. Length of mandatory prohibition. The owner may set a period longer than required by the regulation (as described in subparagraph C.2 above) that prohibits admission to a property for disqualifying behavior. For those behaviors that would result in denial for a “reasonable time,” the owner must define a reasonable period in the tenant selection plan.

   • d. Reconsideration of previously denied applicants. An owner may reconsider the application of a previously denied applicant if the owner has sufficient evidence that the members of the household are not and have not engaged in criminal activity for a reasonable period of time. The owner must define a reasonable period of time in the tenant selection plan. When the owner chooses to adopt this admission provision, the owner must require the household member to submit documentation to support the reconsideration of the decision which includes:

     • (1) A certification that states that she or he is not currently engaged in such criminal activity and has not engaged in such criminal activity during the specified period.

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• (2) Supporting information from such sources as a probation officer, a landlord, neighbors, social service agency worker or criminal record(s) that were verified by the owner.

• e. Consideration of the circumstances relevant to a particular case. In developing optional screening criteria for a property, and applying the criteria to specific cases, owners may consider all the circumstances relevant to a particular household’s case. Such considerations may not be applied to the required screening criteria described in subparagraph C.2 above. These types of circumstances include:

  • (1) The seriousness of the offense;

  • (2) The effect denying tenancy would have on the community or on the failure of the responsible entity to take action;

• (3) The degree of participation in the offending activity by the household member;

  • (4) The effect denying tenancy would have on nonoffending household members;

  • (5) The demand for assisted housing by persons who will adhere to lease responsibilities;

  • (6) The extent to which the applicant household has taken responsibility and takes all reasonable steps to prevent or mitigate the offending action; and

  • (7) The effect of the offending action on the program’s integrity.