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It has everything to do with an "I am better than you" attitude as expressed so often here but when confronted people like you and your ilk don't want to admit it.
I'm better than a murderer. There, I "admitted" it.
First, kudos to you for weighing it so seriously. It's something I have mixed feelings about. I think that technically after someone has "paid his debt" to society, society in theory ought to take him in.
In an effort to be fair, I'd take a look at the specifics of a crime. For instance, if it happened decades ago when he was a teen, and it was something specific, like a bar brawl, maybe I wouldn't hold it against him. And, hey, talk to his previous landlord - ask why he's leaving. Talk to a lawyer about the liability issue. Good luck coming to a decision.
If he was a professional hitman, he could prove to be useful down the road. But if he was mentally unstable and committed his crime I would think thrice.
The guy is working two jobs, he's in a halfway house but he has to move because they need to lodge other people.The apartment is in Brownsville, as my contractor pointed out, he'll fit right in with the neighborhood, what was I thinking when I invested my life savings into buying this property ?,I thought well it's just down the road from Atlantic Ave,which is undergoing gentrification, there'll be a lot of foot traffic, I know, I know, if only I had known about the info I'm getting from the boards here BEFORE I bought, I had no idea about the crime rate and problems, but now I'm stuck, I am trying to take all the precautions I can, I got security cameras and alarms, after some crackheads stripped the copper pipes from the building, I intend to employ a security guard to hang around a couple of nights a week, heck, I might even get my prospective tenant to do it, he's already proven he can do hard time ;-). I haven't advertised either unit but people who see the renovations have been dropping by, and are being turned away - I already decided I didn't want section 8, or single young parent with child- my contractor's an old Irish guy who's been a landlord, he pointed out that you take a young woman and you have to deal with boyfriends moving in and babydaddy drama, and these are studios, not set up for a bunch of people, they've been nicely renovated , I want to keep them that way, and hopefully with this guy producing some income I can afford to hold out for a tenant with a solid employment history and decent credit in the second unit, if things work out and business does ok, I might just switch to air bnb and just rent out to students from abroad coming in for the summer. I do appreciate the advice and comments, some of them crack me up,as to why I feel compelled to help this potential trainwreck, well I had an old teacher that used to say, we are all just one bad decision away from disaster, and I'm keenly aware that if it weren't for an old school dad that put a foot up my behind when I needed it, my life could have gone in a completely different direction
Well, you know what, you likely did the right thing. The apartment is in Brownsville and its not like you're going to get a perfect upper middle class tenant with good credit anyway. The thing is, because of the other problems the neighborhood has there's no way you're going to get the kind of tenant people here are telling you to get. So with that said it seems like you had little choice but to give this guy a chance.
I wouldn't. Too many cons to pros. Family is usually the place ex violent cons go, so it makes me wonder why that isn't an option for this one. They usually know the deal.
Clearly not all families let ex cons live with them. At this man's age his parents maybe dead, and siblings (especially if they have kids) probably don't want Uncle Jail Time to stay with them.
But that's neither here nor there. The OP is a landlord in Brownsville and its either take in Section 8 clients or take in risking low income working tenants like this man. He will not get someone with a decent income and a solid credit history.
So I guess by the majority of responses in the thread, prison does not rehabilitate.
That wasn't the question.
If I were a NYC landlord faced with a potential tenant who just got out of 30 years in jail for a murder, it's not up to me to ruminate on whether prison rehabilitates. For me, the risk factors that go along with being an ex-con with no credit history and no employment for 30 years are way too high to offer a lease to a tenant in NYC.
The recidivism rate for people who have committed first or second degree murder is actually very low. That said, I would feel uncomfortable renting to someone who spent that amount of time in prison because they will have a hard time finding a job. I'd check the guarantor very thoroughly because it is very likely that person will be paying the rent.
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