# 119-hr-8588: Housing FIRST Act

119-hr-8588, Housing FIRST Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7] (D-MA); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-09-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8588
- As of: 2026-09-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-8588
- Congress: 119
- Title: Housing FIRST Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-04-29
- Sponsor: Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7] (D-MA)
- Cosponsors: 20
- Policy area: Finance and Financial Sector
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-09-21

## Summary

**This bill would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to bar most arrest and conviction information from tenant screening reports.** It would create a clear tenant‑screening purpose, set duties for reporting agencies and housing providers, and tighten protections for people with prior justice involvement. - People with arrest or court histories: Would stop tenant screening reports from including arrests, juvenile adjudications, non‑criminal citations, diversion or similar program outcomes, many convictions (including some completed while on probation or parole), court or incarceration fees, and expunged or pardoned records. - Renters and housing applicants: Would require housing decision‑makers to provide notice and specific reasons for adverse actions within 3 days so applicants learn why they were denied promptly. - Consumer reporting agencies and housing providers: Would be required to exclude the banned information, could rely on any information source when applying the new rules, and would see FCRA cross‑references changed so tenant screening is a defined permissible purpose.

## Cosponsors (20)

- Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-12] (D-MI), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2] (D-MA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria [D-NY-14] (D-NY), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Simon, Lateefah [D-CA-12] (D-CA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Ramirez, Delia C. [D-IL-3] (D-IL), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9] (D-IL), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank" [D-GA-4] (D-GA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Frost, Maxwell [D-FL-10] (D-FL), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Lee, Summer L. [D-PA-12] (D-PA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Williams, Nikema [D-GA-5] (D-GA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10] (D-NJ), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY-9] (D-NY), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Carter, Troy A. [D-LA-2] (D-LA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2] (D-IL), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Kamlager-Dove, Sydney [D-CA-37] (D-CA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12] (D-NJ), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Omar, Ilhan [D-MN-5] (D-MN), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Casar, Greg [D-TX-35] (D-TX), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Gomez, Jimmy [D-CA-34] (D-CA), 2026-04-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Del. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large] (D-DC), 2026-04-30T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Ban many criminal records in screenings: benefit, high. If enacted, consumer reporting agencies would be barred from including many arrest and conviction-related items in tenant-screening reports. Prohibited items would include arrest records, juvenile adjudications, non-criminal citations, cases resolved by diversion or similar programs, convictions wh…
- New tenant screening rules: mixed, medium. If enacted, the bill would add a new definition for "tenant screening purposes" as reports used to decide about renting or staying in rental housing. It would treat tenant screening like employment and background checks under the credit-reporting law. Anyone who gets a tenant-screening report or de…
- Source disclosure and state time limits: mixed, low. If enacted, the bill would say that source disclosures must include any entity that gave information to a consumer reporting agency. It would also add wording that can preempt state laws about the time after which certain report information becomes obsolete. These changes would take effect upon ena…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-3069: Medicare for All Act
- 119-hr-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act
- 119-hr-20: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025
- 119-hr-2086: Rights for the TSA Workforce Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-8588 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8588)

## Related
- [119-hr-9877: Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9877)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-3069: Medicare for All Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3069)
- [119-hr-51: Washington, D.C. Admission Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-51)
- [119-hr-20: Richard L. Trumka Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-20)
- [119-hr-2086: Rights for the TSA Workforce Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-2086)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8588 (as of 2026-09-21).