Housing Law Commons^™

Climbing Mount Laurel: Federal Land Use And Zoning Policy As The Bipartisan Solution To The Affordable Housing Crisis, Nina Stockman

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Agencies “Shall Cooperate”: A Blueprint For Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Every federal agency perpetuates housing segregation. As if on autopilot, agencies routinely reinforce segregation unless they take intentional steps to counteract it. Building on my prior work on the Fair Housing Act’s statutory duty to “affirmatively further fair housing” (“AFFH”), this Article examines an agency’s obligation to reduce housing segregation in how it regulates, spends, and administers its programs. Addressing a gap in existing fair housing scholarship, this Article considers the overlooked statutory command that all federal agencies “shall cooperate” with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) to reduce housing segregation. In light of HUD’s newly proposed …

Persistent Impediments And The Geography Of “Affirmatively Furthering” Fair Housing: The Case Of Erie County, Ny, Jason Knight, Heather R. Abraham, Christopher Holtkamp, Russell Weaver

Journal Articles

Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, segregation and discrimination remain key characteristics of the American housing system. The Act sought to reverse decades of private and public sector policies that contributed to segregated neighborhoods and the exclusion of protected classes from equal access to housing. Under the Act, communities receiving funds from US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are required to “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH). This paper examines the AFFH mandate as operationalized by HUD grantees in Erie County, NY, by evaluating six Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing reports prepared from …

Regionalization And Access To Fair Housing In Erie County, Ny, Christopher Holtkamp, Russell Weaver, Heather R. Abraham, Jason Knight

Journal Articles

This paper examines how political fragmentation in Erie County, NY, USA impacts the availability of affordable housing and economic opportunity for residents. In the post-World War II era, employment rapidly migrated to the suburbs, resulting in spatial disconnections between extant residential geographies of the principal City of Buffalo and older, inner-ring suburbs, and the emerging economic geographies of second- and outer-ring municipalities. Stated alternatively, the typical distance between workers and workplace steadily increased. As jobs suburbanized, affordable housing opportunities did not, leaving many low-income residents either isolated from new employment opportunities altogether or paying higher transportation costs for employment farther …

On Fragmentation, Boundary Problems, And Movement Toward A Regional Fair Housing Regime In Erie County, Ny, Russell Weaver, Christopher Holtkamp, Jason Knight, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Prior to recent rule changes, which are still being deliberated as of this writing, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grantee communities charged with Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) have been required to perform regular analyses of impediments (AIs) that identify barriers to fair housing in their territories. A central element of the AI is the delineation of racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty (R/ECAPs). Traditionally, grantees identify R/ECAPs using data for their jurisdictions only, ignoring surrounding communities. Doing so provides local decision-makers with knowledge about spaces in their territories where housing security might be relatively problematic, and …

Appraisal Discrimination: Five Lessons For Litigators, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Appraisal discrimination not only persists, but its influence has actually increased in some housing markets. New studies document how contemporary appraisal methods operate as systemic racism, such as how appraisers select from a narrower set of comparable properties when appraising homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Recent events have renewed public attention to appraisal discrimination, from shocking news stories to a new multiagency federal task force. In tandem, a new wave of litigation has emerged. This Article examines litigation as one element of a multifaceted approach to combatting appraisal discrimination. After examining the weaknesses of the regulatory framework governing appraisals, this …

Segregation Autopilot: How The Government Perpetuates Segregation And How To Stop It, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Housing segregation is a defining feature of the American landscape. Scholars have thoroughly documented the government’s historic collusion in segregating people by race. But far from correcting its reprehensible past, the government continues to perpetuate housing segregation today. As if on autopilot, its spending and regulatory activities routinely reinforce housing segregation. Not only is this immoral and bad policy, it is against the law. The government has a statutory duty to conduct its business in a manner that reduces housing segregation. This duty arises from a unique civil rights directive passed by Congress over fifty years ago in the Fair …

Fair Housing’S Third Act: American Tragedy Or Triumph?, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Fifty-two years ago, Congress enacted a one-of-a-kind civil rights directive. It requires every federal agency—and state and local grantees by extension—to take affirmative steps to undo segregation. In 2020, this overlooked Fair Housing Act provision—the “affirmatively furthering fair housing” or “AFFH” mandate—has heightened relevance. Perhaps most visible is Donald Trump’s racially charged “protect the suburbs” campaign rhetoric. In an apparent appeal to suburban constituents, his administration repealed a race-conscious fair housing rule, replacing it with a no-questions-asked regulation that elevates “local control” above civil rights.

The maneuver is especially stark as protesters fill the streets, marching in opposition to systemic …

Tenants Without Rights: Immigrants’ Experiences In The U.S. Low-Income Housing Market, Mekonnen Firew Ayano

Journal Articles

Immigrants who recently arrived in the United States generally are not able to exclusively possess rental properties in the formal market because they lack a steady source of income and credit history. Instead, they rent shared bedrooms, basements, attics, garages, and illegally converted units that violate housing codes and regulations. Their situations highlight the disconnect between tenant rights law and the deleterious conditions of informal residential tenancies. Tenant rights law confers a variety of rights and remedies to a residential tenant if the renter has exclusive possession of the premises. If the renter lacks exclusive possession, courts typically characterize the …

Married On Sunday, Evicted On Monday: Interpreting The Fair Housing Act's Prohibition Of Discrimination "Because Of Sex" To Include Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity, Joseph J. Railey

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Inclusion Imagined: Fair Housing As Metropolitan Equity, David D. Troutt

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fair Housing: Introduction, Buffalo Law Review

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Push Green Development Zone: Building Housing Equity From The Ground Up, Sam Magavern, Aaron Bartley

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Equitably Housing (Almost) Half A Nation Of Renters, Andrea J. Boyack

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Affirmatively Furthering Equal Protection: Constitutional Meaning In The Administration Of Fair Housing, Blake Emerson

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Louisiana Road Home Program: A Path Of Unintended Consequences, Everett Fineran

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Discrimination In Housing, Credit, And Urban Policy (Transcript), Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Lead-Based Paint Real Estate Notification And Disclosure Rule, Claude E. Walker

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Dispersion Requirements For The Siting Of Group Homes: Reconciling New York's Padavan Law With The Fair Housing Amendments Act Of 1988, Kevin J. Zanner

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

An American Vision: The Right To Shelter, S. Lynn Martinez

In the Public Interest

No abstract provided.

Double Reverse Discrimination In Housing: Contextualizing The Starrett City Case, Thomas W. Simon

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Building A Community Base For Housing Development In The 1990s: A Modest Proposal For Buffalo, New York, George M. Hezel

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of The Impact Of An Implied Warranty Of Habitability In New York State, Matthew Greenblatt

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.