Really quick, is anyone familiar with the law when it concerns performing a criminal background check for potential renters? I've run into problems personally, and the legality of the denials I've received seems rather flimsy at best. For the record, it is a 1 year old 2nd degree Robbery charge. Thank you to any and all that can help out.

Individuals can just do a background check on anyone, but Landlords must follow the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) guidelines, which mainly say two things:
a) The landlord must get written permission from the tenant applicant before the landlord buys a background check on the tenant applicant. I just put the permission form in with the job application and they always sign it for me.
b) If the landlord does not rent to him because of something in the background check, then the landlord must tell him what the information was and where the landlord got it. Ok, no problem. I just give the tenant a copy of the paragraph that describes the problem, and I tell him the name of the company that sold me the background check.

A big difference in a background search California from other states is the California law, which says you must obtain consent and permission, even if you perform the background check yourself without the help of a third party. California closed the loophole that is in the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and in this state the subject must give consent in writing, plus receive a copy of the credit report in both the English language and the Spanish language, no matter who performs the background search California.

Your said your crime was robbery, not burglery, so I assume that the victim was present, so you crime was a crime of theft and violence. That makes things a little harder, but at least drugs were not involved so you do not appear to be a drug addict that will not pay his rent. You could start by looking at rooming houses. Some of them are willing to rent to felons or misdemeanor offenders because the rooming houses appeal to people who are down on their luck enough that they cannot afford a complete apartment.

Your parole officer, social worker, release worker should have information on where you can rent. After a year, you can get a letter of from that landlord saying that you were a good renter in his experience.

If you cannot even get a room, then live at a homeless shelter and get a job, any job that will take you so that you can rebuild some credibility and earn enough to pay rent when you do get a room. Again, your parole officer, social worker, release worker should have information about companies that will hire ex-robbers.

You can do it.