Below is an Op-Ed by Yusuf “Joe” Dahl, past president of the Apartment Association. I think owners should be able to exclude drug dealers for a longer period than other crimes, but not a lifetime ban found in the HUD regulations and guidelines.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/17/drug-sales-exception-fair-housing-law/
Opinion | Congress should remove the drug-sales exception to fair housing law – The Washington Post
Yusuf Dahl is a past president of the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin; founder of the Real Estate Lab in Allentown, Pa.; and board chair of the Petey Greene Program, a national prison education nonprofit.
At 18, I was sentenced to 10 years in prison for dealing drugs. Twenty-five years later, as a Princeton-educated nonprofit leader and entrepreneur, I thought that part of my past was far behind me.
I had a rude awakening last year when my application to rent a home was denied after a background check. My prospective landlord exercised their legal right to discriminate against me for my prior conviction.
More about Joe:
As mentioned in the article, Joe is a past president of the Apartment Association and a Princeton Alumnus. Until this summer, he was the Director of the Dyer School for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Lafayette College, PA. He runs the Real Estate Lab in Allenton. Here are links to his Prison to Princeton and TED talk videos. They are short and worth viewing.
Activating Opportunity in Blighted Communities | Yusuf Dahl | TEDxCarnegieLake
Princeton Profiles: Yusuf Dahl, from prison to Princeton
https://dyer.lafayette.edu/2020/01/31/real-estate-lab-launches/