Representatives of the President’s Department of Housing and Urban Development are stressing reinforcement of regulations warning landlords they must prove it’s in the interest of protecting the safety of residents before rejecting a prospective tenant’s application for rental. The new guidelines advise consideration be taken towards the severity of the criminal history, and the amount of time which has passed since a crime occurred. Violation of the statute could result in hefty civil fines.

The announcement constitutes a rivision of the Fair Housing Act that could face some backlash from home owners. Original fair housing legislation does not list criminals along with the various minority groups it was created to protect. However, the department istaking the position that due to a prevalence of racial inequality fostered by the U.S. justice system, refusing to rent based on a criminal record can in some cases be a manifestation of racial discrimination.

“The Fair Housing Act prohibits both intentional housing discrimination and housing practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect because of race, national origin, or other protected characteristics,” HUD’s new guidelines state. “Because of widespread racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system, criminal history-based restrictions on access to housing are likely disproportionately to burden African-Americans and Hispanics.”

Nearly 25% of all Americans have acquired some form of criminal record. African-Americans, who only constitute 12% of people in the nation, make up 36% of the prison population.