Criminal Background Screening After HUD’s Rescission: Required Checks, Denial Decisions & Fair Housing Risk

Can your team explain—and support—its next criminal-screening decision?

HUD has withdrawn earlier criminal-screening guidance. Recent HUD Inspector General audits have also exposed failures in required background checks and tenant-eligibility controls.

For housing providers, this creates an urgent practical challenge: understand which checks your program requires, how applicable laws limit the use of criminal records, and what your files should contain before you approve or deny an application.

On October 1, 2026, HUD OIG announced findings from three major housing-authority audits identifying more than $4.3 million in improper payments across several eligibility failures, including criminal-background screening and immigration verification. The criminal-screening findings highlight the consequences of missing required checks and failing to follow established policies.

Meanwhile, withdrawing HUD guidance does not automatically change the statutes, regulations or state and local requirements governing a property’s screening decisions.

Join Doug Chasick for a practical review of criminal background screening after HUD’s rescission. Explore how to distinguish required screening from discretionary criteria, evaluate arrests and convictions, review blanket bans and lookback periods, and document decisions that can withstand scrutiny.

The session will distinguish HUD-assisted housing requirements from conventional housing practices and explain why the same screening policy may need different treatment across jurisdictions.

Why Attend?

A background report alone does not tell your team whether a denial is required, permitted or restricted.

This session will help you identify gaps between your written policy, the information supplied by your screening provider and the decisions your staff make. You will leave better prepared to review your criteria, recognize decisions requiring additional review and support a consistent screening process.

Webinar Agenda

In this session, we’ll cover:

• What HUD’s rescission changes—and which obligations remain.
• Lessons from recent HUD OIG criminal-screening findings.
• Required program checks versus discretionary admission criteria.
• Arrest records, convictions and the evidence supporting a decision.
• Blanket exclusions and lookback periods: questions to ask before applying them.
• State and local Fair Chance requirements that affect screening timing and decisions.
• Documentation, staff consistency and oversight of screening providers.

Federal policy in this space has moved fast, and it’s likely to keep moving. The organizations that get this right will treat the rescission as an invitation to review their policies carefully and document their reasoning, not as permission to stop thinking about fair housing risk. The organizations that misread the headlines may find themselves exposed at the state or local level even while believing they’re covered.

Session Objectives

By the conclusion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish withdrawn guidance from applicable screening requirements.
• Identify criminal-screening practices that warrant policy or legal review.
• Evaluate how arrests, convictions and lookback periods affect screening decisions.
• Recognize when jurisdiction-specific requirements change the process.
• Strengthen documentation supporting approval and denial decisions.

Session Highlights

• HUD’s rescission explained: What changed and which screening obligations remain.
• Recent HUD audit lessons: Criminal-screening gaps that can expose weaknesses in your process.
• Required checks vs. discretionary criteria: Understand the distinction for your housing program.
• Arrests, convictions and denial decisions: Evaluate what information supports your decision.
• Blanket bans and lookback periods: Identify policies that warrant closer review.
• Fair Chance requirements: Recognize when state or local laws change your screening process.
• Defensible documentation: Strengthen the records and reasoning behind approval and denial decisions.