Law Commons^™

Review Of The Fight For Fair Housing: Causes, Consequences And Future Implications Of The 1968 Federal Fair Housing Act, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Threading The Needle Of Fair Housing Law In A Gentrifying City With A Legacy Of Discrimination, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

A Novel Tool For Teaching Property: Starting With The Questions, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

California Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Inclusionary Zoning As Land Use Regulation And Not An Exaction, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Local governments, housing advocates, and people who need affordable housing won a solid victory in the California Supreme Court's unanimous opinion in California Bldg. Indus. Ass'n v. City of San Jose. In a complex 64-page opinion that is clearly drafted and rigorously argued, the court held that inclusionary zoning is a constitutionally permissible strategy to produce affordable housing and to promote economic integration that is subject to rational basis review and not heightened scrutiny.

This article outlines the factual and legal background of the case and discusses the court's reasoning in reaching its decision, including the court's refusal to find …

How Should The Law Treat Roommate Relationships? A Tale Of Two Cases, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

The law of roommates is an important but underdeveloped area of landlord-tenant law. Two recent cases, Fair Hous. Council v. Roommate.com, 666 F.3d 1216 (9th Cir. 2012) and Mercury Cas. Co. v. Chu, 229 CA4th 1432 (2014), offer contrasting approaches. This article explores the issues, reviews the cases and favors the Mercury court's approach.

The Promises And Pitfalls Of Micro-Housing, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

This is a primer on the new and growing phenomenon of micro-housing. It defines micro-housing, discusses policy arguments and outlines regulatory issues.

Defining “Family” For Zoning: Contemporary Policy Challenges, Legal Limits And Options, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Single family zones are ubiquitous, diversely-defined and both popular and controversial. Much of the controversy stems from who is excluded from living in these zones by the definition of “family.” After reviewing single family zones, policy rationales for them, and the basic types of definitions of family, this article surveys contemporary policy challenges and legal limits to definitions of “family.” Recognizing localities’ diverse contexts, the article articulates how localities can reassess their definitions and identifies relevant considerations.

Does Fair Housing Law Apply To “Shared Living Situations”? Or, The Trouble With Roommates, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

In 2012, the Ninth Circuit held that to avoid a constitutional conflict with the right to freedom of association neither the federal Fair Housing Act nor California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act apply to persons seeking roommates or to other shared living situations. This article criticizes the opinion as poorly reasoned and overly broad and then offers a more targeted legislative solution to the problem.

This is an abbreviated version of the article that appeared in the JOURNAL OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT LAW (Spring 2014).

Framing Inclusionary Zoning: Exploring The Legality Of Local Inclusionary Zoning And Its Potential To Meet Affordable Housing Needs, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Whether local inclusionary zoning (IZ) ordinances can make significant contributions towards meeting affordable housing needs depends in large part on its legality. Courts have not developed a consistent jurisprudence regarding IZ ordinances. The legality of IZ ordinances depends upon how they are framed by the governments who enact them, the opponents who challenge them, and the courts that decide the cases. After a brief introduction, this article explores why framing is possible and likely in judicial review of IZ as well as why it matters. Next, the article analyzes the case law to demonstrate how framing has operated to affect …

Moving Beyond Two-Person-Per-Bedroom: Revitalizing Application Of The Federal Fair Housing Act To Private Residential Occupancy Standards, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Moving Beyond the Two-Person-Per-Bedroom Standard: Revitalizing Application of the Federal Fair Housing Act to Private Residential Occupancy Standards

Tim Iglesias

Abstract

New empirical evidence demonstrates that the common residential occupancy standard of two-persons-per-bedroom substantially limits the housing choices of many thousands of families, especially Latinos, Asians and extended families. The federal Fair Housing Act makes overly restrictive policies illegal, but the enforcement practices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have enabled the two-persons-per-bedroom standard to become de facto law. This article urges HUD to use its regulatory authority to remedy the situation and offers several solutions. …

Fair Housing At 30: Where We Are, Where We Are Going, Tim Iglesias, Susan Saylor

Tim Iglesias

California has long been a leader in anti-discrimination law including in housing. Thirty years after the founding of the California Real Property Journal, this article asks: How effective have the fair housing laws been in achieving their twin goals of ending housing discrimination and promoting community integration? Much progress has been made during this time, but stubborn patterns of bias and segregation persist. At the same time, our laws have expanded to encompass more people and more situations, making the goalpost more distant and elusive. This article (1) describes at how fair housing laws have changed since the first issue …

State And Local Regulation Of Particular Types Of Affordable Housing, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

This chapter will consider state and local regulation affecting the development of several types of affordable housing which are neither traditional single family nor multi-family. Specifically, the chapter discusses statutes, ordinances, regulations and leading case law concerning the siting of manufactured housing, farmworker housing, accessory or secondary units, single room occupancy hotels (SROs), condominium conversion regulation, and emergency shelters and transitional housing, including domestic violence shelters.

Our Pluralist Housing Ethics And Public-Private Partnerships For Affordable Housing, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

While affordable housing has been produced through a variety of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for many decades, this fact is garnering new and increasing attention by legal and policy analysts. This chapter considers how this new attention may affect the future of America's affordable housing movement through the lens of our pluralist housing ethics: (1) Housing as an Economic Good, (2) Housing as Home, (3) Housing as a Human Right, (4) Housing as Providing Social Order, and (5) Housing as One Land Use in a Functional System. (The housing ethics framework was first explicated in Tim Iglesias, Our Pluralist Housing Ethics …

Our Pluralist Housing Ethics And The Struggle For Affordability, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

Building on recent scholarship, this Article explores the five “housing ethics” that have historically shaped U.S. housing law and policy: (1) housing as an economic good, (2) housing as home, (3) housing as a human right, (4) housing as providing social order, and (5) housing as one land use in a functional system. The “housing ethic” framework brings all of America’s housing law and policy under one conceptual roof. The Article argues that each of these housing ethics is deeply embedded in American housing policy and law, and that none has ever achieved a complete hegemony, i.e., that coexistence and …

Clarifying The Federal Fair Housing Act's Exemption For Reasonable Occupancy Restrictions, Tim Iglesias

Tim Iglesias

This article argues that a deceptively simple “exemption” to the 1988 Fair Housing Act Amendments (FHAA) for “reasonable” governmental occupancy standards has been misinterpreted by numerous courts, particularly by the Sixth Circuit in Affordable Housing Advocates v. City of Richmond Heights, 209 F.3d 626 (6th Cir. 2000). This misinterpretation undercuts the protection from housing discrimination that the FHAA provides for families, especially families of color. This article sorts through the confusion about the “exemption,” provides a step-by-step analysis for courts’ application of the exemption, and offers two plausible versions of a “reasonable” standard.