Duke
Schempp letter: Moorhead is pursuing a discriminatory process
The Forum - 11/21/2000
Moorhead recently approved a plan to spend over $631,000 in community development block grant funds. A portion of this funding is being used for the crime-free multi-housing program. People Escaping Poverty Project has objected to using federal dollars to fund a program that gives landlords flawed and incomplete information as a substitute for a criminal background history of prospective tenants.
The Moorhead City Council refuses to face the fact that they have a flawed and discriminatory process when it comes to background checks of tenants. We have spent the past year researching this issue, documenting its abuse and effect on families in Moorhead and we have provided a substantial amount of documentation to the City Council, the police and to agencies, churches and statewide housing and advocacy agencies.
Moorhead provides information to landlords that is not really a true criminal background. Landlords then use this information to make a decision about the character of a potential tenant as to whether they have a criminal background and whether they will be a suitable tenant. The problem is that the information the Moorhead Police Department provides is misleading, inaccurate and does not really show a clear picture of the person’s criminal history.
What the Moorhead Police Department releases is simply a dispatch log called a CID. This record shows calls to the police, complaints made by the person, lists any time one is mentioned by others and may list a host of other actions that may or may not be substantiated. Many times it is unclear if the person even has been arrested or went to court unless one would go to the Police Department and look up the case file listed in the CID report.
The Moorhead City Council members are being irresponsible in passing a budget for the community development block grant program that perpetuates discriminatory practices and creates more homelessness in our community. Families are being denied housing because of the inaccuracies of these records. Ignoring this and claiming that these incidents have not been proved or substantiated is political posturing that is at the expense of the misfortune of families that cannot find a place to live in our community.
If the council members desire more proof that this policy is causing people to be homeless, the council members need to visit families and individuals who reside in homeless shelters and transitional housing programs. Just ask them about this issue and they will give all the “substantiation” one needs to really see the seriousness of this issue.
Duke Schempp
People Escaping Poverty Project
Moorhead