Law Commons^™

What’S Hud Got To Do With It?: How Hud’S Disparate Impact Rule May Save The Fair Housing Act’S Disparate Impact Standard, William F. Fuller

Fordham Law Review

Since 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari three times on the question of whether disparate impact liability is cognizable under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The first two times, the parties settled. The question is before the Court once again in Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., and this time the parties seem unlikely to settle.

Disparate impact liability in the civil rights context entails liability for actions that have a discriminatory effect, regardless of an actor’s motive. Under the FHA, this can translate into liability for actions that make housing …

A Herculean Leap For The Hard Case Of Post-Acquisition Claims: Interpreting Fair Housing Act Section 3604(B) After Modesto, Mary Pennisi

Fordham Urban Law Journal

On October 8, 2009, Committee Concerning Community Improvement v. City of Modesto created a split in federal circuit courts over whether FHA § 3604(b) applies to discrimination that occupants suffer after acquiring their dwelling. The question is whether the FHA only applies to discrimination in acquiring their property or afterwards as well. This Note examines the split in federal circuit courts created by Modesto. Part I examines the history of the FHA and theories of statutory interpretation. Part II discusses the split in federal authority and both sides’ interpretative methodologies and rationales. . Part III.A maintains that meaning-based and intent-based …

Reconciling People And Place In Housing And Community Development Policy Essay, Nestor M. Davidson

Faculty Scholarship

In housing and community development theory, scholars have long debated tensions between place-based policies and those that focus on fostering mobility. In practice, this is a false dichotomy and this essay explores ways in which place-based policies change the calculus of mobility, while mobility policies deeply shape both the communities people seek and those they leave behind.

Relational Contracts In The Privatization Of Social Welfare: The Case Of Housing, Nestor M. Davidson

Faculty Scholarship

Privatization has become a permanent and increasingly significant fixture on the landscape of contemporary public policy. Federal, state, and local governments now turn to the private sector for everything from collecting neighborhood garbage to assisting in the occupation of Iraq. As Martha Minow recently noted, "a sea change is at work," with "[p]rivate and market-style mechanisms.., increasingly employed to provide what government had taken as duties." Nowhere is this trend more pronounced, and contested, than in the privatization of social welfare. In that arena, privatization's potential to harness the experience, efficiency, and diversity of the private sector sharply clashes with …

Blighting The Way: Urban Renewal, Economic Development, And The Elusive Definition Of Blight, Colin Gordon

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article examines the way municipalities have used increasingly broad interpretations of "blight" to compete for state tax increment financing (TIFs) for economic development purposes. It traces the definition of blight in the context of state and federal urban redevelopment programs from the nineteenth century through the Progressive Era to the advent of TIF laws in the 1980s and 90s. It goes on to discuss the how the concept of "blight" has shifted from a condition of substandard housing to a condition of "sub-optimal" local economic development, in part due to intense competition among municipalities for TIFs. The article concludes …

Emotional Harm In Housing Discrimination Cases: A New Look At A Lingering Problem, Victor M. Goode, Conrad A. Johnson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article explores relevant social science data and examines how it affects the analysis and understanding of evidence of emotional harm. Part I provides an overview of the current state of emotional harm cases. Part II discusses the issue of bias in the process of reviewing discrimination cases from the perspective of critical race theory and recent social science data. In Part III, this Article examines the cycles of ignorance that have contributed to an under-valuation of emotional harm in housing discrimination litigation. Finally, suggestions are made about how to gather relevant psychological and medical information on the effects of …

Emotional Harm In Housing Discrimination Cases: A New Look At A Lingering Problem, Victor M. Goode, Conrad A. Johnson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article explores relevant social science data and examines how it affects the analysis and understanding of evidence of emotional harm. Part I provides an overview of the current state of emotional harm cases. Part II discusses the issue of bias in the process of reviewing discrimination cases from the perspective of critical race theory and recent social science data. In Part III, this Article examines the cycles of ignorance that have contributed to an under-valuation of emotional harm in housing discrimination litigation. Finally, suggestions are made about how to gather relevant psychological and medical information on the effects of …

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

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article gives a new look at section 3604(c) of the Fair Housing Act. Through section 3604(c), the FHA has outlawed biased statements with respect to an even broader range of housing sales and rentals. The three main purposes of section 3604 directly bear on the FHA's ultimate goals of eliminating housing discrimination and achieving residential integration. Under the FHA, discriminatory statements are not only probative of a defendant's illegal intent, but also, by themselves, violate the statute if made "with respect to eh sale or rental of a dwelling." Further, the lack of aggressive enforcement of section 3604(c) cannot …

Illegal Lofts In New York City: Have The Equities Been Balanced, Jay Facciolo

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In New York City today, tens of thousands of people,' primarily tenants, are illegally occupying lofts. These tenants have signed commercial leases, often long-term leases at rents far below the current market rate. The changing economics of loft buildings has led to serious conflicts between landlords and tenants. Landlords have sought to evict tenants before their leases expire, refused to renew their leases or demanded higher rental rates upon renewal. Tenants have withheld rent for extended periods. These conflicts have been taken to the courts, and legislation recently enacted in New York State attempts to resolve these issues for at …

The Rights Of Unmarried Cohabiting Couples To Housing In New York, Matthew G. Connolly

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note examines the protections available to unmarried couples against housing discrimination under the marital status provision of the New York City and New York State Human Rights Laws. After a brief examnitation of cohabitation, this Note will review judicial and administrative construction of the Human Rights Law since its inception. This Note concludes by proposing that unwed couples be given the same protection as married couples under the marital status provision in the New York Human Rights Law. This proposition finds support in: (1) the statutory mandate that the Human Rights Law be liberally construed to accomplish its purspose, …

Gentrification: The Class Conflict Over Urban Space Moves Into The Courts, Harold A. Mcdougall

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Gentrification of inner-cities has resulted in a class conflict over urban space. An issue in the federal courts is whether the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can build, sponsor, or subsidize low income housing projects within or near revitalized neighborhoods. In Stryker's Bay Neighborhood Council v. Karlen, the United States Supreme Court held that HUD's decision-making process relating to the placement of low income housing is beyond judicial review. This Article reviews recent litigation in Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston in light of Stryker's Bay, and concludes that in order to protect federal efforts to maintain the integrated character …

An Evaluation Of New York Loft Conversion Law, William Eckstein

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Prior to World War II, buildings of five to ten stories, called lofts, used to house small factories, dominated lower Manhattan. As these buildings were converted to residences after World War II, laws and regulations regarding conversion were enacted haphazardly. The New York state legislature is considering a bill, Article 7C, Legalization of Interim Multiple Dwellings, designed to address the inadequacies which characterize loft conversion laws. This Note analyzes the propriety of Article 7C by reviewing the evolution of New York loft conversion law. The viewpoints of tenants, landlords, and city officials are presented in separate sections. This Note concludes …

Emergency Tenant Protection In New York: Ten Years Of Rent Stabilization, Diane Ungar

Fordham Urban Law Journal

New York City's rent stabilization system was designed as an alternative to the rent control system. Rent stabilization looked to the owners for supervision as a way to benefit not only the system but tenants through an informed and experienced administration. Unfortunately, the system has had its fair share of shortcomings as rules have become technical, complex, and ill equipped to address the concerns of tenants. This comment examines the stabilization system's history and its current status. Though the current system has flaws, the flaws can be fixed and must be to protect NYC tenants and owners.

New Judicial Approaches To Maintaining Housing Quality In The Cities, Eugenia K. Manning

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Virtually every member of the urban community is a party to a landlord-tenant relationship. As the general tenor of urban life in America changes, so must the laws which govern the urban dweller. For years the doctrine of caveat emptor prevented the tenant from forcing the landlord to make necessary repairs or to retain the leased premises in a habitable condition. The doctrine of constructive eviction afforded him little relief; and housing and sanitation codes, while achieving a measure of success, were generally ineffective. Only when conditions because unbearable did the law protect him. Increasingly, however, the trend has been …

Neighborhood Preservation In New York City, Phillip Weitzman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

The push to the suburbs, financed in large part by federal mortgage guarantees and highway construction moneys and bolstered by exclusionary zoning, has generated forces which tend to leave old urban neighborhoods in shambles. The syndrome of housing deterioration is well known. The dilemma of the deteriorating neighborhood is heightened in a city such as New York, where a large proportion of its population lives in old multiple family buildings. After almost forty years marked by a succession of programs designed to eliminate slums and blighted areas, New York City has concluded that its older neighborhoods must be protected from …

The New York City Housing Receivership And Community Management Programs, Mark Grossman

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Each year New York City landlords abandon buildings containing an estimated 10,000 apartments, forcing tenants to leave as the ownerless buildings plunge into decay. At least half of these buildings are structurally solid and might last several more decades if not abandoned. Most are found in areas where "problem" buildings- buildings which have a potential for abandonment- will most likely be found. New York City has instituted a number of programs for dealing with buildings which are headed toward abandonment. They include code-enforcement, emergency repair and receivership programs, foreclosure for nonpayment of property taxes, and rehabilitation programs involving municipal loans, …

Pointing The Way To Housing Quality, Alexander Cooper, Michael Kwartler, Charles Reiss

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article highlights the Urban Design Council's goals of promoting the highest economically feasible standard of quality in residential housing and seeking to stimulate beneficial development in cities. The article describes the current zoning plan in effect in New York City, proposes new approaches to improve housing quality by exploring the elements of "quality" and zoning as a means of achieving such quality housing.