Law360, New York (April 22, 2016, 9:13 PM EDT) -- Since the U.S. Supreme Court — in its decision in Texas Department of House and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project Inc. — embraced "disparate impact" liability under the Fair Housing Act ("FHAct") — that is, liability for adopting facially neutral policies and practices that unintentionally have a harsher impact on classes of persons protected by the FHAct — housing providers have feared that the use of crime records for tenant screening would be targeted as a potential violation of the FHAct. Those fears were confirmed earlier this month when HUD's Office of General Counsel ("OGC") issued official guidance confirming that, because minorities are arrested and convicted in disproportionate numbers compared to the general population, the use of crime records to screen prospective tenants has a harsher impact on minorities and may violate the FHAct. This article provides a recap on disparate impact liability under the FHAct, explains how the OGC guidance applies those principals, and poses some questions and comments about the soundness of OGC's position on criminal background screening....