Thomas Breen file photo
Mandy CEO Gurevitch: Transparency benefits landlords and tenants.
One of the city’s largest landlords has settled a tenant-discrimination case by agreeing to adopt a formal policy detailing which criminal convictions it will and won’t consider before signing a lease with a prospective renter.
That new Mandy Management policy was announced in a Monday email press release sent out by New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) attorneys Amy Eppler-Epstein and Natalie Smith.
On Tuesday, Mandy Management attorney Ari Hoffman and CEO Yudi Gurevitch confirmed this new policy is now in effect, and should be up on the company’s website soon.
Mandy’s new “Criminal History Review Rental Policy” — which can be read in full here – describes which types of criminal convictions the local megalandlord will consider when reviewing a rental application. It also lays out an appeals process by which a prospective tenant can challenge the landlord’s findings in regards to relevant parts of their criminal record.
The policy has potentially far-reaching implications for a wide swathe of New Haveners, as Mandy Management is one of the largest landlords in town, with upwards of 4,000 mostly low-income apartments in New Haven, West Haven, East Haven, and Hamden.
Mandy’s adoption of this policy brings to a close a Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) case that legal aid first filed against Mandy Management and P2P Realty Group in June 2024.
In that complaint, legal aid alleged that Mandy Management had engaged in illegal racially discriminatory behavior by turning away prospective renters named Mark Griffin and Cheryl Rabe because of two misdemeanor convictions from three decades ago on Griffin’s record. Mandy Management denied all wrongdoing, and stated that it had valid legal reasons to reject Griffin’s application.
This new policy states that Mandy Management will consider rental applicants’ criminal convictions — and not arrests — only if those convictions have occurred in the last five years and if they “indicate that the applicant might be disruptive or dangerous, or that are otherwise related to financial dishonesty or fraud.”
The policy also states that Mandy will consider any criminal conviction, even those that are more than five years old, if that conviction is for a felony that involved “serious property damage or serious bodily harm,” sexual violence or assault, use of a deadly weapon, or “financial dishonesty or financial fraud.” The policy adds that Mandy Management will “under no circumstance” consider juvenile or erased convictions as basis for disqualification.
The policy further describes an appeals process for prospective renters, who can submit additional information to Mandy Management within five days of being notified by the landlord about relevant parts of their criminal record.
“This policy only pertains to tenancy decisions based on criminal background,” the policy concludes. “Mandy Management reserves its right to deny any tenancy application based on other lawful reasons.”
Monday’s press release states that there will be a press conference on this matter at legal aid’s Orange Street headquarters downtown on Wednesday morning.
“We are delighted with the outcome, and are glad this case resulted in a settlement and the adoption of a policy. Housing is a human right, everybody needs a place to live,” Griffin and Rabe are quoted as saying in the press release.
“We hope that this will be a model that other landlords will follow, and that the legislature will adopt similar protections in the next session,” Eppler-Epstein and Smith are quoted as saying in that same release.
“By adopting transparent policies and collaborating with organizations like NHLAA,” added Mandy CEO Yudi Gurevitch, “we aim to set a standard for responsible and compassionate rental practices that balance fairness with community security.”