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Bloomington Housing Authority manager urges partnership with Heading Home; participant calls to ease blanket felony bans and strict income requirements
Summary
Jessica Craig of the Bloomington Housing Authority described the Landlord Risk Mitigation Fund and asked Heading Home to help reach landlords; another participant urged lenders, landlords and policymakers to reconsider rigid tenant screening rules such as three-times rent income thresholds and automatic exclusions for past felonies.
At a regional housing workshop, Jessica Craig said she manages the Bloomington Housing Authority’s Landlord Risk Mitigation Fund and is seeking stronger partnership with Heading Home’s landlord engagement work to expand landlord outreach.
"She can help me get in contact with landlords and can help spread word about my program to landlords who might not already, you know, be aware of us," Craig said, describing how a coordinated outreach effort could increase placements and landlord trust.
A second meeting participant urged building partnerships among lenders, landlords and housing providers and asked city council and lawmakers to reconsider common rental screening barriers. The participant described screening practices that often require renters to earn three times monthly rent and said blanket exclusions for people with past felony convictions should be replaced by individualized consideration.
The session did not record a formal policy response from elected officials. Wheeler and participants used the workshop activities to identify near-term actions and connections — for example, promoting the Landlord Risk Mitigation Fund to private landlords and piloting case-by-case approaches to screening — and asked attendees to record concrete commitments on an inspiration wall for follow-up.
The exchange highlighted two parallel efforts from the session: (1) the nonprofit and housing authority work to build landlord-facing supports and (2) participant calls to reassess screening criteria that community providers say can bar people from housing even when they can pay.
