About this episode
Over the last decade, born from the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis, automated tenant screening has grown into a billion-dollar industry. Now, nine out of 10 landlords rely on automated tenant-screening reports, scraped from eviction history, criminal background records, and terror watchlists, to decide if they can trust potential renters. The problem? Often, the reports contain major errors, mistaken identities, and criminal records that are supposed to be expunged. Can these reports really be trusted? Guest: Lauren Kirchner , investigative reporter at The Markup Original reporting with Matthew Goldstein , reporter at The New York Times Host Celeste Headlee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices