OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland has become the first city in the state of California to ban criminal background checks for rental housing.Housing applications have a checkbox asking if you have ever been convicted of a felony. If that box is checked the application can go into a rejection pile. But by next month that question will not be allowed to appear on rental applications in Oakland.It's called the Fair Chance Housing Ordinance, designed to bar landlords from conducting criminal background checks on potential tenants.At Tuesday night's meeting, Oakland City Council passed the ordinance as a way to address homelessness and give those who have passed through the criminal justice system a chance to find housing. But those who own rental properties are worried about the implications.Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb promised there would be a six-month phase-in period in terms of how strictly it's enforced. He explained it's so landlords "have time to gear up for it and create new paperwork."But real estate attorney Brent Kernan expects the ordinance to face legal challenges over " whether these are appropriate questions that the owner has a right to ask. I mean they face liabilities and all sorts of consequences if they get the wrong person in and bad things happen. "The campaign director of the Alameda County Fair Chance Housing Coalition was once incarcerated and says he still faces challenges as a single dad finding housing.John Jones IIi said, "The landlords still have discretion. They can check credit, residential references, things of that nature. We think removing the structural barrier of a criminal record is important. "A second reading of the ordinance is scheduled two weeks from now and enforcement will kick in this summer. The city of Berkeley is expected to consider a similar ordinance next month.