n violent felony offenses or released from incarceration on the offense within the past six or seven years. Any leasing policy that would reject an applicant based on a criminal conviction should limit the conviction history to a maximum look-back of six to seven years.Moreover, HUD clarified that an arrest record (absent a conviction) is insufficient to constitute proof of past unlawful conduct and should not form the basis for excluding an individual from housing. See also United States v. Zapete-Garcia, 447 F.3d 57, 60 (1st Cir. 2006) (“[A] mere arrest, especially a lone arrest, is not evidence that the person arrested actually committed any criminal conduct.”). Importantly, the FHA specifically allows a provider to deny housing because the applicant has been convicted of the illegal manufacture or distribution of controlled substances, whereas a conviction for drug possession may be correlated with sex and race and may be found to be a discriminatory basis for denying housing. See 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b)(4); see, e.g., Kimbrough v. United States, 552 U.S. 85, 98 (2007) (discussing the racial disparity in convictions for crack cocaine offenses). While there is no exhaustive list of offenses, which may form the basis for an applicant’s denial, an association should consider how the offense relates to its nondiscriminatory interest and narrow its determinations to those such convictions.While an association’s background check policy should not place a blanket prohibition on any particular offenses, the criteria and screening requirement should be applied equally and universally among all applicants. One useful tactic to minimize the risk of discrimination in the application review process is to install a procedure of blindly reviewing each rental application, without consideration of the applicant’s biographical information. However, to the extent a criminal conviction is identified in a criminal background check or disclosed on a leasing application, the association should provide the pote

However, the FHA provides an exception for discrimination on the basis of familial status for housing “for older persons.” 42 U.S.C. § 3607(b)(1). This gives municipalities and groups of older citizens over 55 years of age to create senior affordable housing options like 55 and over communities which provide tax revenue, without expenses such as schools.