Housing Law Commons^™

Social Purpose Reit, Evan Absher

Faculty Works

The United States grapples with a severe housing affordability crisis, often attributed to restrictive zoning laws, speculative private equity investment, and policy deficiencies. Each of these factors contributes to the housing shortage, but addressing any single factor in isolation is insufficient to resolve the underlying issue. A holistic solution requires increasing housing availability across the entire affordability spectrum through both the production of new units and the preservation of existing affordable housing.

This article argues the misalignment of interests among key local stakeholders—residents, community organizations, and investors is the fundamental cause of the housing crisis. Realignment requires a transformation of …

How Mobile Homes Correlate With Per Capita Income, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

This study looks at the nature of the relationship between the number of state-regulated mobile homes and per capita income, so as to determine whether higher-income parts of Illinois have more mobile homes than would be predicted by the conventional wisdom. It does so by identifying a simple way to determine the nature of any relationship between mobile homes and per capita income, which the conventional wisdom assumes to be negative, if only at the county level in Illinois. The study, specifically, collects and analyzes mobile home data from Illinois and per capita income data from the U.S. Census. After …

Cities, Inclusion And Exactions, Audrey G. Mcfarlane, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

Cities across the country are adapting mandatory inclusionary zoning. Yet, consensus about the appropriate constitutional standard to measure the propriety of mandatory inclusionary zoning has not been fully reached. Under one doctrinal lens, inclusionary zoning is a valid land use regulation adopted to ensure a proper balance of housing within the jurisdiction. Under another doctrinal lens, challengers seek to characterize inclusionary zoning as an exaction, a discretionary condition subject to a heightened standard of review addressing the specific negative impact caused by an individual project on the supply of affordable housing in a jurisdiction. Drawing from the experience of Baltimore, …

Race, Rhetoric, And Judicial Opinions: Missouri As A Case Study, Brad Desnoyer, Anne Alexander

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This Essay studies the relationship between race, rhetoric, and history in three twentieth century segregation cases: State ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, Kraemer v. Shelley, and Liddell v. Board of Education. Part I gives a brief overview of the scholarship of Critical Race Theory, majoritarian narratives and minority counter-narratives, and the judiciary’s rhetoric in race-based cases. Part II analyzes the narratives and language of Gaines, Kraemer, and Liddell, provides the social context of these cases, and traces their historical outcomes.

The Essay contends that majoritarian narratives with problematic themes continue to perpetuate even though court opinions have evolved to use …

Producing Better Mileage: Advancing The Design And Usefulness Of Hybrid Vehicles For Social Business Ventures, John E. Tyler, Evan Absher, Kathleen Garman, Anthony J. Luppino

Faculty Works

Since 2008 approximately half of the states in the U.S. have enacted statutes permitting “hybrid” business forms that blend aspects of traditional for-profit ventures with characteristics normally associated with traditional non-profit entities. This article analyzes theoretical, academic, practical, legal, and regulatory questions regarding the extent to which the existing hybrids are suited to achieving social purposes objectives, including in comparison to modified traditional forms of business organization. Finding the current fleet of hybrids an innovative, useful start, but with need to evolve, this article proposes statutory language (set forth in a detailed appendix, and summarized in the article text), and …

Who Wins Residential Property Tax Appeals?, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

This article explains who wins residential property tax appeals in Cook County, Illinois. It does so by collecting and combining public sector data, which has been recently released by the Cook County Assessor. The article then uses this data to compute three statistics. Lastly, it contextualizes each statistic in order to determine if some townships, or groups of townships, win more appeals than expected.

Insurance And Cultural Perspectives On Katrina, Jeffrey E. Thomas

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Unsophisticated Tenant: A Call For A Cap On Late Fees In The Housing Choice Voucher Program, Wendy Tolson Ross

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Missouri's Public Defender Crisis: Shouldering The Burden Alone, Sean O'Brien

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater: A Call To Reinstate The Public Housing Drug Elimination Program, Wendy Tolson Ross

Faculty Works

In fiscal year 2002, the federal government, upon recommendation by the Office of Management and Budget, eliminated funding to the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program (PHDEP), a grant program designed to assist public housing authorities in fighting drugs and crime. In explaining its decision, the government cited (1) the program’s ineffectiveness, (2) its duplication of activities, and (3) the availability of other enforcement tools (e.g., evictions) to control crime and drugs in public housing. On the surface, the budgetary concerns appear to be sound. However, today, seven years later, crime and drug violence are still causing problems in public housing …

The Sweet Trials: An Account, Douglas O. Linder

Faculty Works

The automobile and manufacturing boom that began in Detroit about 1915 made the city a magnet for blacks fleeing the economic stagnation of the South. In the decade from 1915 to 1925, Detroit's black population grew more than tenfold, from 7,000 to 82,000. A severe housing shortage developed, as the city's compact black district could not accommodate all the new arrivals. Blacks brave enough to purchase or rent homes in previously all-white neighborhoods faced intimidation and violence. The spring and summer of 1925 saw several ugly housing-related incidents. It was in this violent summer of 1925 that a black doctor …

Valuation Of Closely Held Business Interests, Edwin T. Hood, John J. Mylan, Timothy P. O'Sullivan

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Landlords As Cops: Tort, Nuisance & Forfeiture Standards Imposing Liability On Landlords For Crime On The Premises, Barbara Glesner Fines

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Property Vs. Services Analysis On Tax Consequences Of Development Fees In Limited Partnership Real Estate Investments, Anthony J. Luppino

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Redlining Revisited: Neighborhood Development Bank As Proposed Solution, Edwin T. Hood, Cynthia M. Weed

Faculty Works

Urban decline and its impact upon American society have been national concerns for nearly three decades. Although the causes of urban decline are numerous and diverse, a key factor is the in­ adequacy of the financial resources available to resolve the massive problems associated with urban decay. In the residential mortgage market, funds for home mortgage loans and home repair loans in declining neighborhoods are conspicuously absent. As a result, ur­ban decline accelerates, and any realistic hopes for the revitalization of urban neighborhoods are eliminated.

During the 1970s, national attention has focused on redlining - ­the term used to describe …

Redlining Practices, Racial Resegregation, And Urban Decay: Neighborhood Housing Services As Viable Alternative, Marcia Duncan, Edwin T. Hood, James L. Neet

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Approaches To Metropolitan Planning, John W. Ragsdale Jr

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Strategies For Metropolitan Stabilization, John W. Ragsdale Jr, Thomas Clark

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Real Estate Finance: The Discount Point System And Its Effect On Federally Insured Home Loans, Edwin T. Hood, James A. Kushner

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.