The City of Oakland and the City of Richmond have adopted a Fair Chance for Housing Ordinance (FCO) which outlines what and how housing providers can ask regarding the criminal records of applicants seeking housing.  As of August 3, 2020, EBALDC has adapted our leasing policies in our Oakland and Richmond communities to reflect the FCO criteria, which include:

  1. Denial of housing due to criminal history only on the grounds of: a) The production of methaenphetamines on federal housing property, and b) Lifetime Sex Offender Registry;
  2. Criminal history will only be sought after the household has met all other eligibility criteria.

For more information about EBALDC’s adoption of the FCO click here and here.

EBALDC is undergoing a resident comment period on this policy change.  Residents are invited to review the Notice to Applicants and Tenants and the Resident Selection Criteria.

Residents can send EBALDC your comment by filling out EBALDC’s Customer Feedback Form.

For further information about the Fair Chance Ordinance, please see Oakland Fair Chance Ordinance and Richmond Fair Chance Ordinance.

For more details on Oakland’s Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, learn more here.