This afternoon, a man came in to the Tenant Resource Center/Social Justice Center with a letter he wanted to show me. He wanted to know how to get on the City Council agenda because he was really mad and was telling me how messed up the City was. (No, not cuz we’re anti-business.) I finally got him to tell me why he was so upset. He handed me a letter from the Community Development Authority (CDA) where he had been granted an informal hearing regarding the denial of his public housing application.
I tried to figure out what was going on. The letter said:
Your application was denied for negative behavior, illegal drug activity or criminal behaviors based on information we received from your arrest and/or conviction records. Therefore, you will need to bring written evidence that the information CDA obtained from these sources is inaccurate. It maybe [sic] necessary to have fingerprints taken by the Madison Police Department, in order to confirm with the FBI that indeed a mistake was made in your identity, regarding your arrest and/or conviction records.
So, I CCAP’ed the guy (don’t worry, it didn’t hurt!). Sure enough, there were some charges from 90 and 92 and then nothing until 2003. However, in 2003, the unlawful use of a telephone charges were dismissed.
So, I followed up with my staff person who was primarily involved with this individual. The initial denial letter specifically mentioned disorderly conduct and that it was information “received from WI Circuit Court Accesss”. Now, the early 90’s charges resulted in a no contest plea to disorderly conduct, but that was over 10 years old and our local ordinances prohibit landlords from looking at anything over two years old. Even the dismissed charges were filed in 2003. Our ordinances read:
Time Limits on Exclusions . The exclusion for certain convictions shall not apply if more than two (2) years have elapsed since the applicant or member of the tenant’s or applicant’s household was placed on probation, paroled, released from incarceration or paid a fine for offenses set forth in Paragraph 1. unless the offense is one which must be reported under the Sex Offender Reporting Requirement of Sec. 973.048, Wis. Stats.
In talking with my staff person, I learned that she had been told by CDA staff that even if the disorderly conduct charges are dismissed, they still consider this proof of behavior and deny people anyways. I also learned that she has another client in the same situation. A dismissed disorderly conduct charge that is preventing this person from getting CDA housing.
Does this sound right?
Ok – Nevermind if its right, or legal, or not . . . if you were in that situation what written evidence would you bring to this hearing? What would you do if you were told the only way you could get housing was to be fingerprinted for the FBI?
