New Cory Booker Bill Would Prevent Housing Discrimination Against People Convicted Of Marijuana And Other Drug Offenses

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) have filed a bill to repeal a decades-old federal statute that’s led to the denial of housing for millions of people with prior drug convictions.

The Fair Future Act would strike a section of the 1988 Fair Housing Amendments Act that the lawmakers say has prevented more than nine million people from accessing rental housing no matter how serious the offense was or how long it’s been since they’ve been convicted.

“No one should be permanently denied a place to live because of a prior drug conviction,” Booker said in a press release. “Right now, housing laws have denied people with prior drug convictions the ability to live in rental housing and in turn, denied them a fair chance at reentering society. The Fair Future Act will eliminate this discriminatory barrier to housing and help us put an end to our nation’s cycle of poverty and recidivism.”

Frost said that people “who have served their time, repaid their debt to society, and are looking to re-enter our communities cannot do so when the deck is stacked against them.”

“Housing is the foundation of a safe and secure life–yet outdated housing laws and conflicting state laws on marijuana mean that someone could go to jail, serve time, and be denied housing in one state, while someone carrying the same amount of marijuana in another state is abiding by the law,” the congressman said. “It’s time we allow folks a fresh start and put an end to housing exclusion for folks who have paid for their crimes and are rebuilding their lives.”

People who’ve served their time and repaid their debt deserve a fair chance to reenter society.

That’s why, alongside @SenBooker, I am introducing the Fair Future Act—helping people with prior drug convictions who’ve served their time get a fresh start and rebuild their lives. pic.twitter.com/6xQVuHn2Xy

— Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost (@RepMaxwellFrost) September 19, 2024

A staffer with Frost’s office told Marijuana Moment that the specific intent of the bill is to strike an amendment to the Fair Housing Amendments Act that was sponsored by former Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) that was meant to “prohibit the renting to an individual convicted of the manufacture or distribution of narcotics.”

Booker and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) separately reintroduced legislation in January to allow people living in federally assisted housing to use marijuana in compliance with state law without fear of losing their homes.

Norton has filed similar versions of the proposal over recent sessions, but the reform has yet to be enacted.

In 2018, a Trump administration official said that she was working to resolve conflicting federal and state marijuana laws as it applies to residency in federally-subsidized housing, but it’s not clear what came of that effort.

Norton sent a letter to HUD in 2021 that implored the department to use executive discretion and not punish people over cannabis in legal states. In response, the President Joe Biden’s HUD secretary told the congresswoman that it is statutorily required to continue denying federally assisted housing to people who use marijuana, even if they’re acting in compliance with state law.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also raised the issue during a committee hearing in 2019, pressing former HUD Secretary Ben Carson on policies that cause public housing residents and their families to be evicted for committing low-level offenses such as marijuana possession.

Ocasio-Cortez and then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) also filed legislation that year that would protect people with low-level drug convictions from being denied access to or being evicted from public housing.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) also introduced an affordable housing bill in 2020 that included a provision to prevent landlords from evicting people over manufacturing marijuana extracts if they have a license to do so.

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Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.