Oakland Becomes First California City To Ban
Background Checks For Prospective Renters
KPIX-TV [San Francisco CA],
by
Staff
Original Article
Posted By: NorthernDog,
1/22/2020 10:47:01 AM
OAKLAND — Following a unanimous vote by the city council Tuesday night, Oakland has now become the first city in California to ban criminal background checks on potential renters. “Indescribable emotions and feelings,” said John Jones III of Oakland, who got out of prison in 2012 and struggled to find a place to live in Oakland despite his well-paying job as an aviation mechanic. Jones said he’s among the many who left prison only to end up on the streets, contributing to Oakland’s homeless crisis. That’s why he’s been lobbying hard for the Oakland City Council to pass the Fair
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Toby Ten Bears 1/22/2020 10:48:17 AM (No. 295112)
What could possibly go wrong...
22 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Lucky5 1/22/2020 10:50:11 AM (No. 295114)
Murderer moves in next door. Great. I see more horrible stories in the future.
10 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 1/22/2020 10:52:09 AM (No. 295115)
The people who approved this law obviously don't rent their property. Legislation who's effects are insulated from the legislators that pass it is ineffective legislation. In this particular case, I might also add dangerously naive.
20 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
john56 1/22/2020 10:59:40 AM (No. 295125)
Yeah. That's the ticket. When we had renters we had a drug dealer and a child pornographer (both kicked out ... although when we kicked the drug dealer out, who was busted with lots of cash in the apartment, it was the month we were planning to raise the rent. I told my mother-in-law that "you know, we're kicking out the one tenant that we know could pay the higher rent.")
11 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
snowoutlaw 1/22/2020 11:00:47 AM (No. 295126)
By removing even more property from the pool this will surely increase the numbers of homeless.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 1/22/2020 11:03:26 AM (No. 295132)
If I were a landlord, I'd either sell my building or stop renting.
22 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 1/22/2020 11:09:56 AM (No. 295139)
Fewer owners will be willing to rent out property. Owners won't be able to sell their rental property. Property values plummet. Harder for renters to find property. More homelessness. No doubt Oakland city council thought all of this is good. The Fair Chance Housing Ordinance? Sounds like it could have come out of Atlas Shrugged.
23 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
DVC 1/22/2020 11:15:49 AM (No. 295149)
One of the many ways that the California Crazies make it less likely that there will be available housing. This will drive people out of the rental market, for certain.
8 people like this.
I’ve been through essentially this same thing as an employer and a landlord in a liberal area.
I resolved the issue as a landlord by making sure my priorities flunked mandatory Section 8 inspections (we were required to take government renters otherwise) and requiring first, and last THREE months rent plus two months rent security deposit. Slowed down the rentals a bit at first, but then I got quality people. Two year leases only. (It takes 90 days minimum to evict.)
I also did thorough calls to previous landlords.
Same with employment. If there was any kind of unexplained gap, I assumed they were criminals and didn’t hire them.
9 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
HotRod 1/22/2020 11:23:31 AM (No. 295165)
A short time from now, the city council will wonder why the supply of rental properties is down, and sales of the properties is up! The city council can't force mortgage lenders to forgo background checks!
10 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
stablemoney 1/22/2020 11:29:25 AM (No. 295177)
These cities should not be allowed to force landlords to do something, then be exempt from damages caused to the landlords. The Democrats are a criminal organization, their main constituency is criminals, all their politicians are criminal.
16 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
seamusm 1/22/2020 11:59:07 AM (No. 295222)
Generally, I have no problem with this. If someone has paid his debt then he should be free to live his life. In the case of child sex felons I feel differently though some of those wrongly labelled. I also think employers should not be able to routinely ask about prior arrests. We have got to stop treating people who have made mistakes as permanently suspect. Doing so only makes them MORE likely to repeat criminal behavior if only to just survive.
3 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
StormCnter 1/22/2020 12:23:37 PM (No. 295241)
We had a little rent house in which the young couple was growing pot on every flat surface while their toddler wandered around in dirty diapers. Even background checks don't necessarily protect the landlord.
7 people like this.
But background checks for purchasing firearms, no doubt.
6 people like this.
A landlord is a fool not to require references, rental history, etc. even then it’s a crapshoot because renters will give references that they will have coached to speak well of them.
You can only hope for the best but I don’t want felons living in my retirement investments.
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
BarryNo 1/22/2020 1:00:01 PM (No. 295279)
Just for a tiny minuscule instant, I thought it said Oakland banned background checks for guns... but, we dont live in that reality.
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
doctorfixit 1/22/2020 2:28:08 PM (No. 295374)
I will not rent to anyone for whom I cannot get a complete background check. Too many frauds and criminals have victimized me.
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
XCenturion 1/22/2020 2:28:18 PM (No. 295375)
Well, when you live a sewer the rats run the place!
1 person likes this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 1/22/2020 3:42:42 PM (No. 295457)
OK, I'll admit I'm sort of a radical... Were I a rental property owner in Oakland, I'd choose the Ellis Wyatt way of saying goodbye to an idiotic regulatory system.
0 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
subman47 1/22/2020 3:50:36 PM (No. 295465)
If you're a murderer, a rapist, a pedophile, a robber, a drug dealer, a radical Muslim, whatever, Oakland welcomes you. Another reason why you shouldn't go to California for any reason. Especially Oakland. This state continues to put nails in it's coffin. CALIFORNIA, RIP.
2 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
hoosierblue 1/22/2020 5:10:16 PM (No. 295532)
Why do people in this comment section keep misspelling Comiefornia.
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Strike3 1/22/2020 5:12:58 PM (No. 295533)
Given the demographics of Oakland they would be more likely to deny a rental to a guy who passed the background check.
3 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
paral04 1/22/2020 5:26:47 PM (No. 295539)
That nonsense will ease the housing crisis. Landlords qill find another way.
0 people like this.
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