@Brian Garlington: Yes, that's right. My apologies, Brian, and thanks for mentioning the exclusions I failed to point out.
Can you believe that though???
Why do property owners with Section 8 housing get exempt?
And ditto with the single family homes, duplexes, triplexes, owner-occupied in-law suites, and roommates looking for a new roommate. Why should they be exempt?
How is that fair?
Now, I imagine Section 8 gets a pass because similar to what @Bjorn Ahlblad said Oakland doesn’t have the juice to preempt federal law. And it seems the City Council is looking to stay align with 42 USC 3603(b) of the Fair Housing Act as to why the other exclusions exist.
But, I have to wonder, if not for these federal statues being in the way, would Oakland still exempt those types of properties?
I mean, they claim to want to give those fresh off the cell block a new shot at life. If they’re going to be consistent here, it only makes sense they would force these otherwise exempt properties accept felons too.
Remember, criminals have just as much free will as you and me. They made their choice to behave the way they did in the circumstances they were in. Why should the other tenants who did pass the criminal portion of the screening process be forced to say, “Hello, neighbor,” to those who could not?
All in all, it doesn’t matter, because the end result is for those uninterested in Section 8 housing or have their sights set higher than house hacking or some triplex, Oakland has robbed them of a legitimate tool for assessing the risk levels of potential tenants. Which in turn makes Oakland a less attractive locality to do business.
Sure you can get into doing some creative screening as @Nathan G. and @Llewelyn A. and @Sue K. have suggested, but it sure feels as if it is only a matter of time before these municipalities start picking the locks on those other criteria as well. Because these City Councils aren’t blind and could very well start advocating further changes in how tenant screening is done.
If that happens, where does that leave the landlord and the other decent, law-abiding tenants?
