Housing Law Commons^™

Why Do Landlords Still Discriminate (And What Can Be Done About It)?, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Let's say you have a serious, though not life-threatening, medical condition, such as a non-malignant growth in your back that causes considerable pain and impairs your ability to walk. At first, your doctor tells you there is no cure, but then one day, a new drug specifically designed to eliminate this kind of problem is approved. You take this drug, but notice no change. With your doctor's encouragement, you continue to take the drug, hoping that its cumulative effect will achieve the desired result. Twenty years go by with no relief. Then, your doctor tells you that a much stronger …

Barriers To Accessible Housing: Enforcement Issues In “Design And Construction” Cases Under The Fair Housing Act, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (“FHAA”), Congress added “handicap” to the bases of discrimination outlawed by the federal Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and also enacted three special provisions to further insure equal housing opportunity for persons with disabilities. One of these special provisions—§ 3604(f)(3)(C) —mandates that all new multi-family housing be designed and constructed with seven specified accessibility features.

Despite the accessibility requirements of § 3604(f)(3)(C)—and similar requirements in scores of state and local fair housing laws—a great deal of the multi-family housing built since §3604(f)(3)(C) became effective has failed to include the features mandated by this …

A New Look At Sexual Harassment Under The Fair Housing Act: The Forgotten Role Of §3604(C), Robert G. Schwemm, Rigel C. Oliveri

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Sexual harassment in housing is a significant national problem. Although less visible than the comparable problem in employment, sexual harassment in housing may be as prevalent and probably more devastating to its victims.

Nevertheless, relatively little attention has been paid to this issue or to the law that should govern it. Indeed, the law of sexual harassment in housing developed well after and in virtual lock-step with the law of sexual harassment in employment. Thus, courts have simply interpreted the Fair Housing Act (FHA) to prohibit sexual harassment to the same degree—and only to the same degree—as it is prohibited …

Discriminatory Housing Statements And §3604(C): A New Look At The Fair Housing Act’S Most Intriguing Provision, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Today, more than three decades after the 1968 Fair Housing Act ("FHA") banned such behavior, blatant discrimination—often accompanied by racist slurs and other explicitly discriminatory statements—continues to plague America's housing markets. The FHA not only outlawed discrimination in most housing transactions on the basis of race, color, religion, and national origin, but also contained a specific prohibition, § 3604(c), banning all discriminatory housing statements. Unlike the FHA's more traditional prohibitions against discriminatory refusals to deal and discriminatory terms and conditions, § 3604(c)'s ban on discriminatory statements has not been the subject of much litigation or debate.

Part I of the …

Introduction To Mortgage Lending Discrimination Law, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Although mortgage lending discrimination and the laws that forbid it have been a part of the American landscape for over two decades, it has only been in recent years that this subject has captured the attention of the public, Congress, and federal enforcement officials. The result has been a tremendous upsurge in interest in this field. Still, there are relatively few cases that have been litigated to a conclusion on the merits, and fewer still that have resulted in plaintiff's victories. Thus, we find ourselves in an exciting period of great potential, but as yet not fully realized accomplishment, as …

The Future Of Fair Housing Litigation, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is a revised version of the keynote address I gave at a conference entitled "Where is Fair Housing Headed in This Decade?" sponsored by The John Marshall Law School in the Fall of 1992. As its title implies, the conference focused on the future of fair housing, and my address dealt with certain developments that I felt were not only observable in the early years of the 1990s, but were also likely to be important in the remaining years of this decade.

Many of these developments—such as the growing role of the federal government in fair housing enforcement …

Standing To Sue In Fair Housing Cases, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Few procedural issues have commanded more attention from the Supreme Court in recent years than standing. The question of who is a proper party to bring a particular claim has arisen in a variety of contexts, but the Court has been especially active in addressing standing problems in cases concerning allegations of housing discrimination. The recent decision of Gladstone Realtors v. Village of Bellwood marked the fifth time in the past decade that the justices have decided a fair housing case on standing grounds.

The Supreme Court's determination to emphasize standing issues in many of its early fair housing opinions …