Bill headed to DeWine could clear way for former convicts to get housing

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- On Friday, Ohio Gov. DeWine will likely sign House Bill 50, aiming to help people who were formerly incarcerated find stable housing. “Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean it should haunt you the entire rest of your life,” Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “You [...]

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- On Friday, Ohio Gov. DeWine will likely sign House Bill 50, aiming to help people who were formerly incarcerated find stable housing.

“Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean it should haunt you the entire rest of your life,” Rep. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati), one of the bill’s sponsors, said.

“You do the crime you do the time,” Rep. Latyna Humphrey (D-Columbus), the bill’s other sponsor, said. “But I do believe, however, once a person does their time, it’s not fair to perpetuate a cycle of despair and poverty.”

The law aims to help people like Andrea Henderson. Henderson was charged with a non-violent felony but has been out of prison for 10 years and has held a stable union job for seven.

“Still can’t get housing,” Henderson said. “I’m living in an extended-stay hotel right now because I’m unable to secure housing in my own name.”

Henderson said it is usually an automatic “no” or a list of hurdles from landlords.

“It’s always they want two- or three-months extra rent, they want double security deposit, you know, all these other stipulations,” Henderson said.

She said before moving to the extended-stay hotel, she felt degraded, needing to ask family members or people she was in a relationship with for a place to stay.

“It was a lot,” she said.

Henderson said it was hard on her mental health and self-worth.

“When you come home, you’ve paid your debt to society and you expect to be treated like a citizen, you expect you be treated like a human,” Henderson said. “You’re not asking anyone for anything. You’re just asking someone to just let me pay you rent.”

If HB50 becomes law, 90 days after the governor’s signature, it will give people who were formerly incarcerated another path to housing. The path will be through what will be called the “Certificate of Qualification for Housing,” or CQH. It is partially modeled off an existing Certificate of Qualification for Employment that has been in place since 2012.

“We are building on what has been a successful, if [not] underutilized, mechanism,” Seitz said.

This new certificate would allow a former inmate who has been out of prison for one year and who has taken certain instruction on how to be a good tenant, to go to the court that sentenced them and make their case for a CQH.

“Could we get some of that where judges are reluctant to grant the CQH? Yes,” Seitz said. “Could we get some of that where judges are a little bit too liberal in giving them out causing problems? Yes. But that’s just a function of having 88 counties with multiple different layers of judges. All you can do is throw it out there as a lifeline and hope that its used responsibly.”

When it’s presented to a landlord, if the landlord decides to grant a lease, they get immunity from being sued.

“That landlord will not be able to be sued on the theory that ‘you shouldn’t have rented to this ex-con,’ if that ex-con goes out and makes another mistake and terrorizes the other tenants,” Seitz said. “So, we’re trading a little bit of immunity for giving these folks a chance at finding decent housing.”

Humphrey said over the past three years, about 55,000 Ohioans have re-entered society from incarceration.

“A stable place to live can be the difference between a successful reintroduction to society and getting caught in a cycle of homelessness or repeated incarceration,” Humphrey said. “Collateral sanctions perpetuate cycles of poverty.”

However, landlords would still not be under any obligation to rent to people who spent time in prison. Humphrey said she is hopeful the program will still be effective.

“Folks who have rental properties want to be able to rent those rental properties out,” Humphrey said. “I believe they will rent to people who have been justice involve because money is green and they’re going to want to accept that and that’s just me being candid.”

Henderson said she would like to see a law to do something like prohibit inquiries about a criminal record after a certain number of years, depending on the offense. She said while HB50 is a good place to start, she is not sure it goes far enough.

“I don’t really see it being that helpful just because it does not ensure that landlords are going to rent to you,” Henderson said. “It’s better than nothing and I am grateful and thankful that someone is even considering housing as an issue. But immediate impact, I really just don’t see it. I’m sorry.”