A Navy man with top-secret clearance, a disabled Latino man, and a California legislator are challenging housing algorithms, as tenant screening software faces a national reckoning. nbcnews.to/38GERoB
(1/11) #NBCNewsThreads
(1/11) #NBCNewsThreads
Marco Antonio Fernandez was searching for an apartment in 2018 after a yearlong Navy deployment.
With a top-secret clearance, he had little worry about tenant screening. But he was denied, after software confused him with an alleged drug trafficker with 3 misdemeanors. (2/11)
With a top-secret clearance, he had little worry about tenant screening. But he was denied, after software confused him with an alleged drug trafficker with 3 misdemeanors. (2/11)
Fernandez sued screening firm RentGrow in 2019. More recently, he sued CoreLogic Credco, a division of a property analytics firm, in federal court.
He says they violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which allows consumers to challenge data held by private companies. (3/11)
He says they violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which allows consumers to challenge data held by private companies. (3/11)
Housing law advocates say that Fernandez is one of thousands of people who are mistakenly flagged by tenant screening software that culls criminal records data from many sources. (4/11)
In 2016, Carmen Arroyo had a simple request for her landlord: She wanted to bring her adult son, Mikhail, home after being in a coma. She requested to move to a 2-bedroom apartment within her same complex. She was denied. (5/11)
The complex’s property manager uses CoreLogic’s CrimSafe service and had examined her son's criminal background and rejected her.
Arroyo could not figure out what the obstacle was. Her leasing agent refused to answer. (6/11)
Arroyo could not figure out what the obstacle was. Her leasing agent refused to answer. (6/11)
Arroyo’s lawyers eventually determined that Mikhail had been charged in 2014 with retail theft for $150, but that the charge was dropped. (7/11)
Arroyo’s lawyers sued on her behalf not only under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, where monetary damages and settlements are common, but also under the Fair Housing Act, a key pillar of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. (8/11)
The lawyers say that by making claims concerning tenant screening software under the Fair Housing Act, believed to be for the first time, there is a strong likelihood that CoreLogic may be compelled to change its software and practices. (9/11)
In December, a member of the California state Assembly, Ed Chau, proposed what is believed to be the first serious attempt in any state to regulate algorithmic bias in housing, lending, hiring and more. (10/11)
The bill seeks to compel companies to explain before a watchdog group how their algorithms are being tested to mitigate against possible bias or adverse impact on a protected class, such as minorities or women. nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news… (11/11)
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