If you’ve been looking for felony friendly apartments in Indianapolis or searching for housing for felons in Indiana, you should know that many landlords won’t rent to convicted felons.
Finding felony-friendly apartments is often a struggle because property managers routinely run background checks on rental applicants. But there are steps you can take to increase your chances of success.
How To Find Felony Friendly Apartments In Indianapolis
Applying for apartments listed on rental sites like Apartments.com and Rent.com will often result in rejection because many of these rentals are in large apartment complexes run by property management companies.
These companies tend to have rigid acceptance policies and once they run your rental background check, they’ll screen you out because of your felony.
You’ll have a better chance of finding felon friendly apartments in Indianapolis by focusing your search on the smaller apartment complexes and independent landlords advertising on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.
Using an apartment finder is another great option for locating second-chance housing in Indianapolis. Local apartment finders have expert knowledge of the Indianapolis rental market and have lists of second-chance apartments in Indianapolis you can apply to.
If you’ve been released from prison recently, your parole officer, transitional housing provider, and reentry service can all help you find an affordable second-chance apartment.
Finding Housing Assistance for Felons in Indiana on Craigslist
Many of the apartments listed for rent on Craigslist are owned by independent landlords or managed by leasing agents with more flexible acceptance criteria.
To see the latest Craigslist Indianapolis rental listings go to the housing section on https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ and select apts / housing.
Craigslist will show you second chance apartments Indianapolis to rent. Don’t limit your search to apartments because houses can be just as affordable. Filter the results by price range, and select your preferred zip code, number of bedrooms, and amenities.
Craigslist only provides basic information on rentals and you won’t see “felons welcome to apply” on any of the listings. But that doesn’t matter. Finding felon-friendly housing is a numbers game. The more landlords you contact, the sooner you’ll find a place to live.
Some listings will say no credit check. This can mean the landlord doesn’t run a background check of any kind, which is perfect for you, or it may mean they run a background check, which only includes a search for convictions and evictions.
Use the messaging system to ask about any rental that matches your needs. To save time, prepare an inquiry to copy and paste into each message.
Ask for their rental acceptance criteria, and the full cost to move in (security deposit, first month’s rent, application fee).
If their response mentions a background check, send a follow-up inquiry asking if they’re prepared to consider your background and give brief details about your conviction.
Check Craigslist’s Indianapolis apartment listings at least twice a day to catch new rentals as soon as they’re posted. Watch out for scammers – never send an application fee until you’ve viewed a property. Don’t pay rent or a security deposit until you’ve signed the lease.
Finding Second Chance Housing Indianapolis On Facebook Marketplace
If you’ve already got a Facebook account, open up the app and select Marketplace from the menu. Go to the housing section to see the apartment rentals in Indianapolis.
Use the price, location, and other filters to narrow down the results.
Then send inquiries to landlords following the same approach outlined above for Craigslist.
Don’t take rejections personally, just move on to the next apartment rental on your list.
Using An Apartment Locator For Second Chance Apartments In Indianapolis
Using a second-chance apartment locator is often the quickest way to find second chance housing Indianapolis.
Second-chance apartment finders match renters with background problems and bad credit with landlords willing to overlook their history.
Apartment finders will usually want to run a background check on you so they can match you with the right landlords.
Second-chance landlords have different acceptance criteria. Some landlords will rent to tenants with misdemeanors but not felonies. Others will only accept non-violent felons, or felonies older than 5 years, for example.
Use Google to search for “second chance apartment finders Indianapolis” and look through the results.
If your felony is over 7 years old, you can go straight to secondchanceapartmentfinders.org and apply for one of the rentals on their site.
Apartment finders also advertise on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.
Since demand for 2nd chance apartments is high, contact several apartment finders so you have a bigger pool of landlords to apply to.
Using Reentry Resources To Find Felon Friendly Apartments
Reentry programs for felons offer help and support to recently released felons. They know that stable housing and employment are essential for successful reentry.
When you work with a reentry program in Indianapolis, their coaches and case managers will help you apply for apartments within their network of housing providers and identify other rental opportunities.
Reentry advisors will also guide you through the process of applying for the low-income housing programs in Indianapolis provided by the Indiana Housing Authority.
The local housing authority is responsible for managing the Public Housing Program and the Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8). Both programs have waiting lists, so apply as soon as possible.
Your reentry counselor will help you apply for any other assistance you’re entitled to receive, including food stamps and health care.
To find out about reentry housing options in Indianapolis, visit PACE – Public Advocates in Community Re-Entry – at https://paceindy.org/. Fill out the contact form on the website and a counselor will reach out to you soon.
Know Your Housing Rights
While landlords can use your criminal background as a reason to reject your rental application, they can’t arbitrarily discriminate against you.
Any landlord with a blanket no-felons policy is breaking the law. Criminal backgrounds should be evaluated against their tenant acceptance policy on a case-by-case basis. Rejections should be based on a legitimate risk to the safety of other residents, the landlord, or the property.
When a landlord reviews your background report, they should look at the nature and age of your felony and consider the efforts you’ve made to rehabilitate yourself since then.
To help landlords consider your application fairly, make sure you provide employment and character references.
Final Thoughts
Finding apartments in Indianapolis that rent to felons or any major city takes a methodical approach and perseverance. Don’t let a few rejections discourage you.
There are thousands of landlords in Indianapolis, and some of them are felony-friendly landlords, even though they don’t advertise that fact.
Check Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace twice a day and send an inquiry for every suitable apartment in your price range. Remember, you only need to copy and paste your prepared message so this shouldn’t take you more than 30 minutes.
Contact second-chance apartment finders and apply to landlords on their lists.
Work with a reentry service to find 2nd chance apartments in Indianapolis and to apply for affordable housing programs.
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