California county passes law stopping landlords from conducting criminal background checks on renters

Law prohibits landlords in private and public housing from using criminal records when considering prospective tenants

California’s Almeda County has become the first in the country to pass a law against landlords conducting background checks on renters.

On Tuesday, Almeda County’s board of supervisors in the San Francisco Bay Area voted to adopt a Fair Chance housing ordinance.

The law prohibits landlords in private and public housing from using criminal records when considering prospective tenants.

In a tweet, the East Bay Housing Organisation said that the law was passed in a 4-0 vote with one board supervisor abstaining.

“Fair Chance Housing is a commonsense public policy solution,” Board of Supervisors president Keith Carson was quoted as saying in a statement to CBS News.

Alameda County Supervisor Dave Brown said: “I am grateful that my colleagues voted for the Wilma Chan Fair Chance Housing ordinance.

“Wilma Chan and I have been strong supporters of removing discrimination and providing the support formerly incarcerated residents need for successful reentry.”

The law is expected to be a significant move in curbing discriminatory practices in housing formerly incarcerated people.

Advocates said that Alameda is the first county in the US to broadly prohibit this practice, though a few cities have passed similar measures, and at least two counties have adopted partial restrictions, reported The Guardian.

The law will however require a second vote in January to be formally adopted.

It will apply to the unincorporated parts of the county, which include San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, Sunol, Fairview and Ashland; the cities of Oakland and Berkeley, which are part of Alameda county, which had previously passed municipal laws banning criminal background checks for housing.

Margaretta Wan-Ling Lin, executive director of Just Cities, an organisation that backed the ordinance said to the outlet: “There is this direct pipeline from prison on to our streets and into homelessness.”

“Our nation is going through a reckoning around our history of racism and mass incarceration policies, and an important part of repairing that harm is removing the stigma and structural discrimination against people with a criminal record.”

In May US Department of Housing and Urban Development figures showed that homelessness increased nearly 9 per cent in the San Francisco Bay Area over the last three years, reported Associated Press.