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Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in Law
Establishing A More Effective Safmr System: The Cost And Benefits Of Hud's 2016 Small Area Fair Market Rent Rule, John Treat
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note analyzes the new HUD rule finalized in November 2016, which dramatically changed the structure of the Housing Choice Voucher program in select metropolitan areas. In August 2017, HUD suspended automatic implementation of the rule until 2020 for twenty-three of the twenty-four selected metropolitan areas, but in December 2017, a preliminary injunction was granted requiring HUD to implement the rule as of January 1, 2018. The rule as written changes the method for calculating the vouchers from using a metropolitan area-wide average to calculating a separate level for each zip code. Such a change could greatly deconcentrate poverty and …
It Takes A Village: Designating "Tiny House" Villages As Transitional Housing Campgrounds, Ciara Turner
It Takes A Village: Designating "Tiny House" Villages As Transitional Housing Campgrounds, Ciara Turner
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
A relatively new proposal to reduce homelessness in the United States involves extraordinarily small dwellings. While the “tiny house” movement is intuitively appealing and has found sporadic success, strict housing codes, building codes, and zoning laws often destroy the movement before it can get off the ground. One possibility for getting around these zoning and building code challenges, without drastic overhauls to health and safety codes, is to create a new state-level zoning classification of “transitional campgrounds.” A new zoning classification would alleviate the issue because campgrounds are consistently subject to less strict building codes, which could permit tiny houses …
The Value(S) Of Foreclosure Law Reform, Melissa B. Jacoby
The Value(S) Of Foreclosure Law Reform, Melissa B. Jacoby
Pepperdine Law Review
This symposium contribution examines the starkly different values reflected in traditional legal literature on foreclosure law reform in the U.S. as compared to some more recent entries in the wake of the rise of subprime lending and high rates of residential mortgage default. I highlight economist Dean Baker’s “right to rent” proposal, which would give former homeowners leasehold rights at market rates, to illustrate a more progressive set of housing policy considerations and to challenge the assumption that ownership is essential or optimal to promoting various housing objectives.
Citizen Police: Using The Qui Tam Provision Of The False Claims Act To Promote Racial And Economic Integration In Housing, Jan P. Mensz
Citizen Police: Using The Qui Tam Provision Of The False Claims Act To Promote Racial And Economic Integration In Housing, Jan P. Mensz
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Economic and racial integration in housing remains elusive more than forty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. Recalcitrant municipal governments and exclusionary zoning ordinances have played a large role in maintaining and exacerbating segregated housing patterns. After discussing some of the persistent causes of segregated housing patterns, this Note presents a novel approach to enforcing the Fair Housing Act and the "affirmatively furthering fair housing" requirement on recipients of federal housing grants. This Note presents a citizen suit that emerged from the Southern District of New York in Anti-Discrimination Center v. Westchester County, where a private …
Issue Brief: Overcoming Legal Barriers To The Bulk Sale Of At-Risk Mortgages, Michael S. Barr, James A. Feldman
Issue Brief: Overcoming Legal Barriers To The Bulk Sale Of At-Risk Mortgages, Michael S. Barr, James A. Feldman
Other Publications
This memorandum argues that the sale of loans and loan pools to new owners would help to stabilize housing prices, and that such a modification to the REMIC rules would be desirable and well within Congress’ constitutional authority. Furthermore, it would not lead to successful legal claims by investors in securitized loan pools under the Just Compensation or Due Process clauses, which provide the primary constitutional protections for property interests.
An Implied Warranty Of Freedom From Sexual Harassment: The Solution For Harassed Tenants Where The Fair Housing Act Has Failed, Theresa Keeley
An Implied Warranty Of Freedom From Sexual Harassment: The Solution For Harassed Tenants Where The Fair Housing Act Has Failed, Theresa Keeley
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Although sexual harassment in the workplace is recognized as a problem, sexual harassment in housing has largely been ignored. When confronting sexual harassment in housing, courts have borrowed standards for sexual harassment in the workplace. Criticism of this practice exists; however this Article examines the real source of the problem: bringing sexual harassment claims under the Fair Housing Act. Specifically, this Article shows how and why the Fair Housing Act fails to address the problem of sexual harassment in housing. To remedy this failure, this Article proposes an "implied warranty of freedom from sexual harassment" that both restores the tenant's …
Democratizing The American Dream: The Role Of A Regional Housing Legislature In The Production Of Affordable Housing, Thomas A. Brown
Democratizing The American Dream: The Role Of A Regional Housing Legislature In The Production Of Affordable Housing, Thomas A. Brown
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Economic, ethnic and racial residential segregation are ubiquitous across United States metropolitan regions. As a result, the majority of affordable housing is located in central cities or inner-ring suburbs, generally in areas of highly concentrated poverty. Outer suburbs are often exempt from providing significant housing for the economically disadvantaged regional citizens. This should not be. If housing policy in metropolitan regions were established in a democratic fashion, the give-and-take of the political process would create strong incentives for regional cooperation in the creation of affordable housing. Drawing together scholarship in the fields of local government law, administrative law, and housing …
Moving From Colonias To Comunidades: A Proposal For New Mexico To Revisit The Installment Land Contract Debate, Elizabeth M. Provencio
Moving From Colonias To Comunidades: A Proposal For New Mexico To Revisit The Installment Land Contract Debate, Elizabeth M. Provencio
Michigan Journal of Race and Law
Communities of Mexican Americans in the Southwest, known as colonias, have provided many low-income buyers with affordable opportunities. Affordability, however, comes at a high price for the colonias residents. Most of the buyers live in colonias pursuant to installment land contracts, devices which allow buyers to spread the purchase price of property over a number of years but leave them without legal title or equity under New Mexico law. The buyers sacrifice their legal rights to "own" small, unimproved lots of land in developments that are often without electricity, gas, a sewage system, and indoor plumbing. The author argues …
Salvaging The Opportunity: A Response To Professor Clark, Michael J. Yelnosky
Salvaging The Opportunity: A Response To Professor Clark, Michael J. Yelnosky
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
In this Article, Professor Yelnosky responds to Professor Clark's critique of his previous article, Filling an Enforcement Void: Using Testers to Uncover and Remedy Discrimination in Hiring for Lower-Skilled, Entry-Level Jobs. Professor Yelnosky first clarifies that Professor Clark has adopted several of the points Professor Yelnosky originally made in his earlier article. He then responds to the portions of Professor Clark's article that challenge his prior conclusions. He builds on and defends his previous arguments that: (1) testing is best suited to uncover hiring discrimination for lower-skilled jobs; (2) disincentives to bringing tester lawsuits make it unwise to rely …
Tenants' Rights In Police Power Condemnations Under State Statutes And Procedural Due Process, Eric Wills Orts
Tenants' Rights In Police Power Condemnations Under State Statutes And Procedural Due Process, Eric Wills Orts
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Note explores the legal arguments available to tenants who want to resist arbitrary or unjustified condemnations of their buildings. Part I provides an overview of the legal and constitutional structure of the police power to condemn buildings. Part II analyzes state statutes governing the condemnation of buildings. Focusing on the statutory rights to notice and opportunity for a hearing provided to tenants, Part II concludes that a majority of states provide inadequate protection for tenants facing eviction by condemnation. Part II then proposes statutory reform, based on an approach taken by a minority of states. Part III demonstrates that …
Affordable Housing For The 1990'S, Harold A. Mcdougall
Affordable Housing For The 1990'S, Harold A. Mcdougall
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article examines the history of national housing policy and the factors that will influence its future. Part I discusses the role of capital costs in influencing housing policy. Part II summarizes the changes that have occurred in housing policy in the last fifty years. Part III studies how local- and state-level institutions have reacted to these changes. Finally, Part IV predicts the future of national housing policy, focusing particularly on local efforts.
Condominium Conversion Of Residential Rental Units: A Proposal For State Regulation And A Model Act, Bernard V, Keenan
Condominium Conversion Of Residential Rental Units: A Proposal For State Regulation And A Model Act, Bernard V, Keenan
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This Article has several objectives. Part I provides a foundation for discussion by briefly outlining the relationship between the recent history of the rental housing market and those factors prompting the conversion of apartments to condominium status. With this background information, the relevance of conversion legislation is more readily grasped. Part II seeks to establish that state government is the appropriate governmental entity to formulate legislation intended to protect individuals affected by the conversion of rental units. Federal legislation has addressed this specific issue in the relatively unknown Condominium and Cooperative Conversion Protection and Abuse Relief Act of 1980. In …
Modern Legislation, Metropolitan Court, Miniscule Results: A Study Of Detroit's Landlord-Tenant Court, Marilyn Miller Mosier, Richard A. Soble
Modern Legislation, Metropolitan Court, Miniscule Results: A Study Of Detroit's Landlord-Tenant Court, Marilyn Miller Mosier, Richard A. Soble
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This article is a description of a study of cases filed and tried in the Detroit, Michigan, Common Pleas Court, Landlord-Tenant Division, during 1970 and 1971. The court is in a large urban center and handles a high volume of cases, in most of which one or both parties appear without an attorney. The impetus for the study was Michigan legislation passed in 1968, which gave tenants additional defenses to summary eviction procedures. The main goal of the study was to observe the effects of the legislation on tenants who were subject to summary proceedings in Detroit. The purpose of …
The Proposed Housing Consolidation And Simplification Act Of 1971, William A. Newman
The Proposed Housing Consolidation And Simplification Act Of 1971, William A. Newman
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
This note will describe the operation of selected housing programs and suggest some of the difficulties posed by the current statutory bases for these programs. It will then evaluate the effectiveness of the modifications contained in the proposed bill.
Overcoming Barriers To Scattered-Site Low-Cost Housing, Darrel J. Grinstead
Overcoming Barriers To Scattered-Site Low-Cost Housing, Darrel J. Grinstead
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The effect of most zoning devices which have been used in suburban and non-ghetto city planning in the past few decades has been to erect substantial economic barriers around entire cities. These devices include minimum lot size requirements, density zoning, frontage requirements, single family restrictions, and minimum living space requirements. While such zoning practices may not be exclusionary in purpose, exclusion of minority groups has been the result. Moreover, since most minorities are heavily concentrated in low income groups, economic segregation will bring about a high degree of racial and ethnic segregation. Indeed, it has been suggested that these economic …
Persuader: Mobilization Of Support, Mary Ann Beattie
Persuader: Mobilization Of Support, Mary Ann Beattie
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Law reform can be achieved through precedent-setting case law and through legislation. Each is a time-consuming activity with its own stumbling blocks. To establish law through the case method, one must have a fact situation directly on point with the inequity which one is trying to remedy. In many situations the client must be willing to follow through a long process of trial and appeal, instead of settling for a more immediate but incomplete resolution of his problem. The costs of litigation may become an insurmountable problem. Another difficulty with the test case as a vehicle for law reform is …
Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation Of Impact, Ronald D. Glotta
Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation Of Impact, Ronald D. Glotta
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
The natural question raised by the passage of "Tenant Rights" legislation is whether the new law helps or hinders the practicing attorney representing tenants. In analyzing the package of Tenant Rights Bills enacted in Michigan in 1968 this article will focus on three questions: 1) whether such legislation raises false hopes in being heralded as a major declaration of rights and an effort to solve the problem of housing shortage; 2) whether such legislation actually further oppresses tenants, especially in their exercise of the one effective instrument in their power: collective action; and 3) whether such legislation significantly changes the …
Draftsman: Formulation Of Policy, Carl Schier
Draftsman: Formulation Of Policy, Carl Schier
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Most low income families rent their living accommodations; for them the lease arrangement is a precarious one at best. It is generally a periodic tenancy from week to week or month to month with the agreement rarely reduced to writing. If the allocation of rights and duties between the parties is spelled out by them at all, it is quite one-sided and normally delineates only what the tenant may and may not do. When there is no written agreement or when the writing is silent as to the obligations of the parties, the common law of landlord and tenant controls, …
Michigan Landlord-Tenant Law: Course Of Statutory Reform, Prospectus: A Journal Of Law Reform
Michigan Landlord-Tenant Law: Course Of Statutory Reform, Prospectus: A Journal Of Law Reform
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Introduction to the Articles, Draftsman: Formulation of Policy, Persuader: Mobilization of Support, and Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation of Impact