From: LWV of Palo Alto
To: Council, City
Subject: April 14 City Council meeting: Action Item 13: Fair Chance in Housing ordinance Date: Friday, April 11, 2025 2:10:43 PM
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Dear Mayor Lauing, Vice Mayor Veenker, and Council Members:
The League of Women Voters’ Meeting Basic Human Needs position supports policies which provide a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family.
The proposed Fair Chance in Housing Ordinance will help achieve that goal.
The League has consistently supported the recently adopted renter protections (limits to rent increases, relocation assistance, and a rental registry) to help address displacement, homelessness, and the lack of both unsubsidized and subsidized affordable housing for low- and moderate-income people in Palo Alto. The City’'s 2023-2031 Housing Element (Program 6.6) makes renter protections part of the City’s duty to affirmatively further fair housing under State law. The Fair Chance in Housing Ordinance, which the City has been discussing since 2021, is one more tool to implement renter protections.
As set out in the Ordinance’s “Findings”(sec.1), the Fair Chance in Housing Ordinance will reduce the potential for discrimination based on criminal history in rental housing decisions. Limiting use of criminal history information in rental housing decisions gives previously incarcerated persons a fair opportunity to compete for rental housing, putting them in a better position to reintegrate into the community, obtain gainful employment, and access health and other services. The staff report notes that persons with a criminal history face barriers to securing stable housing and are significantly more likely to be unhoused than the general public. The most recent publicized count found 9,903 persons were unhoused in Santa Clara County, including 206 people in Palo Alto.
State law already limits the use of criminal background checks to “directly related” convictions but provides no limit to how many years ago the convictions may have been..
The Fair Chance Ordinance limits the use of criminal background checks by landlords in rental housing decisions to a two-year look-back period for “directly related convictions”. It gives tenants notice and opportunity to present corrections to the record or mitigating factors, outlines steps the landlord must take before rejecting a tenant based on their criminal history, and creates a right to sue for unlawful discrimination, in addition to an existing right to file a complaint with state and federal civil rights agencies. The ordinance creates no new administrative enforcement responsibilities for the city.
We applaud the staff and council’s thoroughness in thinking through the pros and cons of Implementing State law locally through a Fair Chance Ordinance by establishing a two (2) year lookback period.
Sincerely,
Karen Kalinsky and Lisa Ratner
Co-Presidents
LWV Palo Alto
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League of Women Voters of Palo Alto
3921 E. Bayshore Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Phone: (650) 903-0600
Web: www.lwvpaloalto.org
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