| Topics and Issues | Fair Chance (4) |
There is a small but disturbing trend in local governments limiting or banning the use of criminal history searches in rental screening with the passage of fair chance laws. We are seeing this play out in the cities of Oakland (2020) and Berkeley (2019), and in Alameda County (2022)* in California; Portland, Oregon (2019); Cook County in Illinois; Minneapolis; and Detroit (2019). These cities and one county follow a Seattle (2018) ordinance that was called “groundbreaking”. While these laws or proposals are novel, they are also dangerous to other tenants who want safe places to live. These local controls are often unconstitutional. In Seattle, CDIA is supporting litigation against the city that challenges the constitutionality of the ordinance.
Additional localities:
Jackson, Michigan (pop. 31,000). The only city in and the county seat of Jackson, County. Located 40 west of Ann Arbor and 35 miles south of Lansing. Jackson passed its Fair Chance Housing Ordinance in 2022. The ordinance is codified at Sec. 14-600 et seq. (Ord. No. 2022-05).
* The Alameda County fair chance ordnance was rejected by the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 28, 2023.