Dereen Shirnekhi photo
Terri Ricks (in red), with Mark Griffin (right), thanks Mandy's Ari Hoffman and Sara Bigman and pushes for them to encourage other management companies to enact similar policies.
After winning a tenant-discrimination case that changed how Mandy Management approaches renters with criminal histories, Mark Griffin is ready to take his fair-housing fight to the state legislature — as he also awaits a full pardon for his decades-old misdemeanor conviction.
Griffin celebrated those wins and described those continued advocacy plans at a Wednesday press conference hosted by New Haven Legal Assistant Association (NHLAA) and Mandy Management at NHLAA’s Orange Street office.
The presser served as a followup to Monday’s announcement by NHLAA attorneys Amy Eppler-Epstein and Natalie Smith that the local megalandlord had settled a June 2024 Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) case that legal aid had brought on behalf of Griffin and his partner Cheryl Rabe.
As part of that settlement, Mandy agreed to adopt a formal policy detailing which criminal convictions it will and won’t consider for rental applications. The megalandlord also agreed to pay Griffin and Rabe $20,000.
Griffin and Rabe are no longer looking to live in a Mandy apartment. Instead, they’re back at Seabury Housing Co-Op — which is where they had lived for ten years before they applied to live in a Mandy apartment as Seabury underwent some construction.
They applied for a Mandy apartment, got a notice that their application had been denied, and received an attached background check that flagged “limited credit experience” as well as Griffin’s misdemeanor conviction of third-degree assault, dating back to 1989.
The couple reached out to NHLAA, which filed the CHRO complaint and argued that discrimination on the basis of just any criminal charges has a disproportionate impact on renters of color, therefore violating the Fair Housing Act.
After seven months of mediations — led by CHRO Commissioner Diane Carter — Mandy, NHLAA, and Griffin and Rabe reached a settlement: Mandy and P2P Realty, an agent of Mandy, would pay the couple $20,000, and Mandy would have a public, formal policy making clear how prospective tenants’ criminal backgrounds might affect their rental applications.
That policy — which can be read in full here – states that Mandy, which is one of the city’s largest landlords, will consider criminal convictions that have occurred in the last five years and “indicate that the applicant might be disruptive or dangerous, or that are otherwise related to financial dishonesty or fraud.” The landlord will also consider felony convictions older than five years that involved “serious property damage or serious bodily harm,” sexual violence or assault, use of a deadly weapon, or “financial dishonesty or financial fraud.”
Wednesday’s press conference celebrated that policy, which Eppler-Epstein described as a “reasonable, fair agreement.”
Griffin said he is “proud” to be part of the process that led to the policy, which gives those with criminal backgrounds the opportunity to show who they are beyond their criminal history.
“Housing should be a right, not a privilege,” Griffin said, “and everyone deserves a place to live.”
Rabe, who was home sick and phoned in to the press conference Wednesday, said that “it’s been a whirlwind.” She thanked Mandy for “being fair right now” and wanting to set a precedent for other landlord companies.
Ari Hoffman, one of Mandy’s lawyers, was in attendance along with fellow attorney Sara Bigman. Hoffman made it clear that Mandy denies any wrongdoing in Griffin’s case, though he said he wouldn’t go into specifics.
Hoffman said that the policy “reaffirms the company’s unwavering commitment to fair housing,” and that the settlement was a valuable opportunity to work with NHLAA “and make housing available to as many people as possible.”
Mandy’s policy includes an appeals process for applicants with criminal backgrounds who believe they have been wrongfully denied housing. Those applicants have five days to include any documents to make their case, and Mandy has ten days to review those materials. If Mandy overturns their decision and the original unit is taken, Mandy will offer three comparable units to the tenant, NHLAA attorney Natalie Smith explained. The CHRO will also be monitoring Mandy for two years to make sure all is going according to plan.
Now, Griffin, Rabe, and NHLAA’s fight continues to the state level: They’re joining forces with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Connecticut to push for the passing of HB6948, which would “prohibit housing providers from considering a prospective tenant’s felony conviction in connection with a rental application after certain time periods.”
Terri Ricks, a Smart Justice leader with the ACLU, said that Connecticut residents with criminal histories face more than 500 legal barriers, and she agreed — “housing is a right.”
“What Mandy has done can be a springboard for other management companies,” she said, and encouraged attendance of a Feb. 18 public hearing on the bill in the state legislature’s housing committee.
Now, what’s next for Griffin?
Last month, he received notice that he had “tentatively” received an “absolute pardon” for his misdemeanor charge, according to Eppler-Epstein. He’s just waiting for his certificate, which he’s expecting to receive in the next few weeks.
“I don’t know,” he said when asked if he would be applying for a Mandy apartment any time soon. But he does know that “the work don’t stop today.”
“I didn’t do this for myself,” he emphasized — he did it for prospective tenants all over the state who might have decades-old charges keeping them from renting. He wants it to be clear: “I’m a human being. I’m not my criminal record.” And that fight isn’t exclusive to New Haven — he wants to take it up with the state.
Dereen Shirnekhi photos
Cheryl Rabe calls in with the help of Amy Eppler-Epstein.