Housing Law Commons^™

Housing Is Harm Reduction: The Case For The Creation Of Harm Reduction Based Termination Of Tenancy Procedures For The New York City Housing Authority, Megan Stuart

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Home Foreclosures: Will Voluntary Mortgage Modification Help Families Save Their Homes? Part Ii? : Hearing Before The H. Comm. On The Judiciary Subcomm. On Commercial And Administrative Law, 111th Cong., Dec. 11, 2009 (Statement Of Associate Professor Adam J. Levitin, Geo. U. L. Center), Adam J. Levitin

Testimony Before Congress

The results to date from MHAP are deeply disappointing. Even the most optimistic view of HAMP and HARP’s potential would now project the programs as having only a minor impact on the foreclosure crisis. Until and unless the problems of unemployment; negative equity, and servicer capacity, incentives, and contract restrictions are addressed, we are unlikely to see noticeably different results. These issues cannot be addressed within the current structure of HAMP.

Unfortunately, none of the solutions for foreclosures due to unemployment are particularly satisfying, and without addressing unemployment, foreclosures will remain at elevated levels. Bankruptcy presents possible solutions to negative …

Fair Housing And Roommates: Contesting A Presumption Of Constitutionality, Brooke Wright

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Re The Estate Of Avonne Goss, 2008 P 05, (Blkft. Tr. Ct. App., Nov. 4, 2009), Blackfeet Appellate Court

Court Decisions

In the Blackfeet Tribal Court of Appeals the Court answered the question to whether the “Bill of Sale” of a home from Avonne Goss to Robbin Goss, for the sum of $1, constituted a valid legal document. The Court determined that the home will remain in full ownership of Robbin Goss and the Bill of Sale for $1 was a valid legal document.

A Round Peg For A Square Hole: The Mismatch Between Subprime Borrowers And Federal Mortgage Remedies, Arielle L. Katzman

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exclusionary Housing Vs. Fair Housing: The Need For State Legislation, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

On September 23rd, Westchester County settled a lawsuit with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York under which it agreed to develop and carry out an implementation plan to construct 750 affordable housing units in Westchester communities with low percentages of African American and Hispanic households. Under this agreement, the County will provide over $50 million to create housing in these communities; if needed, the County agreed to withhold benefits from the communities or to bring litigation against them if the 750 units are not constructed. The County will be supervised by …

Legislative Hearing On Ma Foreclosure Mediation Program Bills: Written Testimony To The Joint Committee On The Judiciary, Susan Jeghelian, Madhawa Palihapitiya

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The inability of homeowners to communicate with holders of securitized mortgage obligations has been a significant barrier to completing affordable loan modifications that might prevent foreclosures or minimize losses and keep more homeowners in their homes. Increasingly, legislators and the courts are looking at mediation as a potential solution to the problem.

In a little over a year, from mid-2008 to mid-2009, more than 25 distinct foreclosure mediation programs were launched in fourteen different states. State legislatures, state supreme courts, and local courts played roles in creating these programs. Mediation is being favored over litigation due to concerns such as …

Fraud Is Fun: Or How A Foreclosure Rescue Scam Changed My Life, Peter A. Holland

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Effective And Constitutional: Goals For A Hurricane Response Plan In The Aftermath Of Hurricanes Katrina And Rita, Neal Mchenry

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Patient Neglect In Nursing Homes And Long-Term Care Facilities In New York State: The Need For New York To Implement Programs And Procedures To Combat Elder Neglect, Amanda Bassen

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article argues that New York State must enhance its legal framework and programs to address the prevalent issue of patient neglect in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. It emphasizes the need for stricter staffing requirements, improved training for caregivers, and more stringent penalties for neglect, drawing on successful models from other states and international efforts to raise awareness and implement effective solutions.

Civil Partnership: Your Questions Answered - A Comprehensive Analysis Of The Civil Partnership Bill, Fergus Ryan

Reports

The Civil Partnership Bill 2009 arguably represents the most momentous change in Irish Family Law in a generation. The Bill proposes a substantial new legal status for registered same-sex partners, as well as important changes to the law as it relates to cohabitants. This report addresses the provisions of the Bill as initiated, analysing the potential impact of the Bill in clear and accessible language. The Report also highlights potential difficulties with the Bill, and suggests possible enhancements to the Bill as initiated.

Unaffordable “Affordable” Housing: Challenging The U.S. Department Of Housing And Urban Development Area Median Income, Michael E. Stone

Center for Social Policy Publications

There is no such thing as “affordable” housing. Affordability is not a characteristic of housing: It is a relationship between housing and people. For some people, all housing is affordable, no matter how expensive. For others, no housing is affordable, no matter how cheap.

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 …

Acknowledgements, Michel Rosenfeld

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Greening Historic Dc: Challenges And Opportunities To Incorporate Historic Preservation Into The District's Drive For Sustainable Development, Andrew Stein

Georgetown Law Historic Preservation Papers Series

This paper focuses primarily on the District of Columbia, a city with a robust past and a bold agenda for a sustainable future. However, it may not be obvious why historic preservation - a movement typically concerned with aesthetics - can play an integral role in a city's sustainability initiative. Therefore, this paper first sets forth the basic argument why historic preservation can be a tool to promote sustainable development. Part II examines the scientific data indicating that historic preservation is a green building practice. Next, Part III posits that investment in historic districts is an investment in sustainability. Then, …

Wal-Mart In The Garden District: Does The Arbitrary And Capricious Standard Of Review In Nepa Cases Undermine Citizen Participation?, Dawn E. Jourdan, Kevin Gifford

UF Law Faculty Publications

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), enacted in 1969, requires that agencies of the U.S. government or those seeking to use federal funds to construct projects study the environmental and social impacts of said projects. Under the provisions of NEPA, a first-level review must be conducted for all projects not otherwise exempted. If the entity conducting the review deems that the project will result in a significant impact on humans or the environment, an environmental impact statement (EIS) must be prepared. The decision about whether or not to prepare an EIS can be controversial due to the fact that the …

Massachusetts' System Redesign To End Homelessness: An Overview And Assessment, Donna H. Friedman, Ghazal Zulfiqar

Center for Social Policy Publications

The Clayton-Mathews and Wilson 2003 analysis of Massachusetts’ expenditures of state and federal dollars to address family homelessness documented a serious system misalignment of public resources: that is, 80% of state and federal resources were tied up in shelter provision, while only 20%, including rental assistance, were designated for homelessness prevention (Clayton-Matthews and Wilson, 2003). Their analysis demonstrated what many had long suspected: if homelessness is to be ended in Massachusetts, fundamental changes would be needed to shift the state system from shelter-oriented toward prevention-oriented. Both the Romney and the Patrick administrations have clearly prioritized this objective with broad-based support …

Development Of Ukrainian Real Property And Mortgage Law: The American Perspective, Zhanna Bulkina

San Diego International Law Journal

Modern Ukrainian commercial law started to develop following the break-up of the Soviet Union in August 1991 and the reemergence of Ukraine as an independent democratic state. As a result of the break-up, in 1991 the new state of Ukraine inherited the jurisprudence, institutions and government of the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. While Ukraine quickly shed its Soviet past by changing the communist names of streets and institutions, the transition was not as easy when it came to substantive changes in Ukrainian jurisprudence and legal thinking. Ukraine needed to develop its own system of law to establish an open …

The Foreclosure Crisis And The Anti-Fragmentation Principle In State Property Law, David A. Dana

Faculty Working Papers

Secured credit in homes has been divided and over-divided and spun into so many separate interests that economically rational, socially beneficial modifications of loans are impossible. The mortgage story is a new one but the excessive fragmentation of property and the creation of waste and inefficiency is not new. And our legal tradition of state property law has an answer, in the form of an anti-fragmentation principle. Consistent with this principle, federal government trustees should be authorized to review mortgages and, where modification would yield greater total return than foreclosure, modify the loans. Blind trustee review, moreover, can be achieved …

Criminalization Of Housing: A Revolving Door That Results In Boarded Up Doors In Low-Income Neighborhoods In Baltimore, Maryland, Sarah Spangler Rhine

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

The Great American Housing Bubble: Re-Examining Cause And Effect, Robert M. Hardaway

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The current quest to identify scapegoats upon whom to cast blame for the housing bubble collapse are fundamentally misdirected inasmuch as all bubbles, like all Ponzi schemes, inevitably collapse-the only question being one of timing. Focus should instead be placed on the causes of the bubble itself, for only by doing so can sound economic policies be devised in a manner that will prevent future bubbles. Primary causes of the creation of the housing bubble are extravagant house subsidies lavished disproportionately on the top tiers of income earners; restriction of the supply of housing through local exclusionary policies; social policies …

Response Brief And Opening Brief Of The Intervening Respondents/Cross-Petitioners, Ho V. Fung, Docket Nos. 08-1763 & 08-2159, 569 F.3d 677 (Seventh Circuit Court Of Appeals 2009), J. Damian Ortiz, John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Clinic

Court Documents and Proposed Legislation

No abstract provided.

Private Risk, Public Risk: Public Policy, Market Development, And The Mortgage Crisis, Daniel Immergluck

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article describes the development of mortgage markets in the United States in the twentieth century, with an emphasis on the growth of high-risk market segments beginning in the 1990s. It focuses on the federal role in the development of stable, risk-limiting products and markets. The author then examines the growth of securitization, including structured finance and its impact on mortgage markets. Finally, the article discusses the policy debates and developments surrounding subprime and other high-risk mortgage lending from the 1990s through the 2007-2008 mortgage crisis. The author concludes that knowledge of the problems and costs of high-risk lending had …

The High Cost Of Segregation: Exploring Racial Disparities In High-Cost Lending, Vicki Been, Ingrid Ellen, Josiah Madar

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article argues that policy makers addressing racial disparities in the share of subprime mortgages must take into account the relationship between existing levels of racial segregation and the racial disparities in the types of mortgages homeowners received. The authors examine approximately 200 metropolitan areas across the country and note the significant racial disparities in the percentage of subprime mortgages received by different racial groups. Various mechanisms that explain these racial disparities are also explored. The authors ultimately conclude that residential segregation plays a significant role in shaping lending patterns.

Improving The Odds Of Government Accountability In The Disaster-Prone Era: Using The 9/11 Fund Factors To Remedy The Problem Of Toxic Katrina Trailers, Olympia Duhart

Faculty Scholarship

This article analyzes the dangers surrounding the toxicity levels in the trailers issued to Katrina survivors by FEMA, and identifies serious medical complications stemming from the temporary homes. Lack of government oversight in the process led to the distribution of formaldehyde-laced trailers that cost the government more than $2 billion and continue to poison residents years after the storm. Furthermore, the failures connected to disaster relief are even more disturbing in this disaster-prone era. More importantly, this paper also proposes the creation of a Toxic Trailer Fund to compensate residents of toxic FEMA trailers. Using the factors implicitly established by …

You Can Move In But You Can't Stay: To Protect Occupancy Rights After Halprin, The Fair Housing Act Needs To Be Amended To Prohibit Post-Acquisition Discrimination, 42 J. Marshall L. Rev. 751 (2009), Scott N. Gilbert

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vindicating The Matriarch: A Fair Housing Act Challenge To Federal No-Fault Evictions From Public Housing, Melissa A. Cohen

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Pearlie Rucker, sixty-three years old, had been living in public housing in Oakland, California for thirteen years. Ms. Rucker lived with her mentally disabled adult daughter, Gelinda, as well as two grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Ms. Rucker regularly searched Gelinda's room for signs of drugs, and had warned Gelinda that any drug activity on the premises could result in eviction. Nevertheless, Gelinda was caught with drugs three blocks from the apartment. Despite the fact that Ms. Rucker had no knowledge of Gelinda's drug activity, and in fact had been carefully monitoring what happened in her apartment, the Oakland Housing Authority …

Bringing It All Back Home: How To Save Main Street, Ignore K Street, And Thereby Save Wall Street, Robert Hockett

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article argues that the most effective and constitutionally sound method of solving the mortgage crisis would be directing the Treasury Department to administer TARP through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and government-sponsored enterprises Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae The author contends that these were established precisely to deal with low-end mortgage financing and refinancing. However, the present crisis stems directly from intrusions on these institutions' original missions by under-regulated private firms. The author provides an overview of the causes of the mortgage crisis, the founding and functioning of mortgage finance institutions, and ultimately sketches how TARP would be channeled …

The Need To Prioritize The Affirmative Furthering Of Fair Housing: A Case Statement, Symposium: New Strategies In Fair Housing, James Robert Breymaier

Cleveland State Law Review

The affirmative furthering of fair housing involves racially and economically pro-integrative policies and programs to produce structural changes that expand housing choices and improve individual opportunities.

Responsible Development? The Need For Revision To Seattle's Inclusionary Housing Plan, Jay A. Riffkin

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment explores how Seattle's enactment of a limited inclusionary housing plan can effectively meet the challenges of responsible development, both satisfying the city's need for density and affordability and maintaining an economic environment conducive to developer profitability. Although Seattle's current inclusionary housing plan may give adequate incentives to developers, the city needs to move away from its current voluntary plan and toward a mandatory plan that balances increasing developer incentives with a demand for affordable onsite development to serve a broader spectrum of income levels. Part II of this Comment lays out the background of exclusionary and inclusionary zoning …