Housing Law Commons^™

Converting Buildings Is Hard: Why Seattle’S Municipal Government Should Streamline Commercial-To-Residential Conversions, Tyler M. King

Seattle University Law Review

The conversion of commercial buildings into housing is a promising solution to the growing housing crisis in many urban areas. However, despite its potential benefits, the process of repurposing commercial spaces is often stymied by complex zoning codes, high conversion costs, and bureaucratic hurdles. This Article argues that the local and state governments in Seattle should adopt more streamlined policies and offer greater incentives to developers to facilitate these conversions. By reforming zoning regulations and providing targeted financial support, municipalities can reduce the barriers to conversion and unlock the potential of underutilized commercial properties. This article examines the legal and …

Land Without Legacy: The Case For Market-Based Appraisals On Hawaiian Home Lands, Alexis C. Owens

Seattle University Law Review

The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA) was enacted to restore Native Hawaiians to ancestral lands and promote long term economic self-sufficiency. More than a century later, that promise remains unfulfilled. This Note argues that a central but overlooked barrier lies in the HHCA’s mandated use of the replacement cost appraisal method, which systematically undervalues homestead properties by excluding market forces. In one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States, this approach suppresses home equity, the primary means of intergenerational wealth building, and restricts beneficiaries’ access to credit and financial stability. By severing the connection between …

Concentration And Coordination: Antitrust Perspectives On Single-Family Rentals, Margaret Traubert

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Lease On Life: Why Arkansas Needs An Implied Warranty Of Habitability, Mary-Kennedy Jackson

Arkansas Law Notes

The implied warranty of habitability is a legal obligation that every state except Arkansas has adopted. The implied warranty of habitability requires landlords to ensure that their rental properties are safe, sanitary, and habitable for tenants regardless of whether these requirements are explicitly stated in the lease. It requires a landlord to maintain their property, make necessary repairs, provide essential services, and ensure the property is free of pests and other hazards. Under the implied warranty of habitability, tenants are given recourse options when a violation of the required standard occurs.

Arkansas’s failure to adopt the habitability warranty leaves approximately …

Cle Program: Putting People At The Center Of Representation 2-24-2026, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

A Golden Opportunity For New York: Caveat Emptor And Revised Mckinney's 465, Grady Miller

NYLS Law Review

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For centuries, the doctrine of caveat emptor has governed New York residential real estate transactions, rewarding sellers who do not disclose material defects affecting the property, and punishing unsuspecting buyers who fail to exercise due diligence. To alleviate the doctrine’s inherent unfairness to buyers, the New York …

From Flames To Change: An Exploration Of Housing, Fire, And Inequity, Helen Underhill, Charles R. Jennings, Brian Meacham, Danielle Antonellis

Publications and Research

Housing and fire safety are deeply connected: inadequate and poorly maintained housing poses heightened fire risk for occupants. An individual or household’s housing situation (including limited or constrained choice) interacts with issues such as affordability, access, location, quality, safety, occupancy levels, tenure type, and resident or immigration status. These dynamics shape vulnerability, and inequity becomes most visible in the event of a fire. The extreme end of this spectrum includes the unhoused, who occupy structures entirely outside of regulatory systems with little or no fire protection.

Tenant Rights Deserve Consumer Protections: The Case For Overturning State V. Schwab, Robert S. Colton

Washington Law Review

Tenancy is a precarious housing arrangement—tenants do not own their homes yet depend on housing stability as a foundation for engaging in almost all aspects of life. For more than fifty years, Washington law has decreed it a landlord’s responsibility to maintain safe and secure housing for their tenants. As the Washington State Legislature has declared, “[d]ecent housing for the people of Washington state is a most important public concern.” This strong rhetoric remains at odds with State v. Schwab, the sweeping decision issued by the 1985 Washington State Supreme Court removing tenants from the reach of the Consumer …

The Impact Of Artificial Intelligence On Lending: A New Form Of Redlining?, Sadie Cavazos

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

The issue of biased lending is longstanding and has faced much legislation over the past few decades. When issues of discrimination in the housing market became center stage in the 1960s, Congress passed multiple acts to combat what became known as “redlining,” or systematically denying credit to minority groups of people. Acts such as the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act worked to eliminate this discrimination, but that does not mean bias does not still exist. However, lending companies, due to the efforts of the above-enumerated acts, can no longer act on these biases. But with the …

The Causes And Impact Of Evictions In Southern Nevada, Mohit Pande

Student Research

As the Southern Nevada region continues to quickly grow, evictions have become a structural feature of the region’s rental market. The region has one of the highest eviction filing rates in the country and this trend has continued to increase in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper examines the availability of market-rate affordable housing and the expansion of subsidized affordable housing to understand how the local housing conditions contribute to the number of evictions in Southern Nevada. Additionally, the paper studies local legal processes, such as the summary eviction system and habitability procedures, to understand the relationship between …

Housing As A Human Right Through Legislative Action: Comparing France And Scotland’S Enforceable Rights To Housing, Emily Peterson, Jack E. Turman Jr., Ph.D.

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.

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 …

Binding Rights: Contractual Federalism And The Right To Housing In Canada, Alexandra Flynn

All Faculty Publications

Canada’s housing crisis continues to deepen, exacerbated by constitutional fragmentation and intergovernmental reluctance to implement human rights-based housing policy. While the federal National Housing Strategy Act recognizes housing as a human right, its application is limited and its legal force is limited to the federal level, leaving provinces and municipalities unbound. This article argues that contract law – particularly conditional funding agreements between the federal government and subnational actors – can serve as a pragmatic and legally coherent mechanism to bind municipalities to housing obligations, including the recognition of housing as a human right. Drawing on the Canada Health Act …

Law School News: If There's Life, There's Hope (August 2024), Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

How Is Access To Legal Resources And Advocacy Foundational To Health Justice?, Yael Zakai Cannon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Health justice as a movement incorporates research about how to more effectively leverage law, policy, and institutions to dismantle inequitable power distributions and accompanying patterns of marginalization that are root causes of health inequity. Legal advocacy is key to health justice because it addresses patients’ health-harming legal needs in housing, public benefits, employment, education, immigration, domestic violence, and other areas of law. In medical-legal partnerships, lawyers and clinicians are uniquely positioned to jointly identify and remove legal barriers to patients’ health, advocate for structural reform, and build community power.

The Ghost Of Jim Crow: The Human Right To Housing, Generational Wealth, The Neighborhood Homes Investment Act, And The American Legal System, Miranda Guedes

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

No abstract provided.

Addressing Mental Disability Head On: The Challenges Of Reasonable Accommodation Requests For Virginia Housing Providers, Haley Fortner

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

A person’s home should be a sanctuary of safety, security, and comfortability away from the demands of the outside world. Yet for many people living with mental illness, a home can all too easily become a sort of temporary prison. Nowhere is this more apparent than when a housing provider stands in the way of allowing someone with a mental disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy their home. Fair housing law’s reasonable accommodation requirement works to ensure those living with mental illness receive the accommodations they need in order to live safely and comfortably in their own home. …

We Get To Live Here?: Housing Insecurity And Assistance Availability In Oxford, Mississippi, Ashlyn Hinton

Honors Theses

As Oxford continues to thrive as a university town and tourist destination, the rates of housing insecurity are rising for full-time residents in the community. The types of housing insecurity experienced and their effects can range broadly across households in Oxford, but they consistently lead to low to middle income families experiencing the negative side effects associated with increased transience, poor housing conditions, or being cost-burdened by housing. This study seeks to determine the factors contributing to housing insecurity in Oxford, how this affects residents, and if the current resources are accessible and proportionate to the levels of need within …

The Persistent Public Health Emergency, Yael Zakai Cannon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

May 11, 2023 was ostensibly a day of celebration. With infections and deaths from COVID-19 down, the federal government announced the end of the official Public Health Emergency three years after its initial declaration. But the conclusion of the Public Health Emergency also signaled the termination of unprecedented health protection measures—outside the realm of healthcare—such as eviction and utility shutoff moratoria and emergency rental and utility assistance. These COVID-era measures successfully cut eviction filings nationally by more than half and provided people in many jurisdictions with the protections and assistance needed to maintain their electricity, heat, water, and gas. Now …

Litigation Landmines: Exclusionary Zoning And Sober Living Homes, Rachel L. Andersen

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

This article delves into the intricate landscape of sober living home ordinances within residential zoning districts, shedding light on exclusionary restrictions and requirements that have triggered extensive and costly discrimination litigation. Providing a concise history of the origins of modern-day sober living homes, the article examines legislative initiatives and ongoing litigation concerning zoning ordinances aimed at regulating these homes in residential neighborhoods. It explores the nuanced use or prohibition of specific terms and conditions within such ordinances and compares historical interpretations of regulatory provisions for recovery residences. The article presents examples of contentious terms and requirements that have fueled litigation, …

Public Health Impacts And Intra-Urban Forced Displacement Due To Climate Gentrification In The Greater Miami Area—Community Lawyering For Environmental Justice And Equitable Development, Theresa Pinto, Abigail L. Fleming, Sabrina Payoute, Elissa Klein

University of Miami Law Review

Because Miami-Dade County is “ground zero” for such climate effects as sea-level rise and increasingly hazardous, climate-driven Atlantic hurricanes, the coral rock ridge that runs along the Eastern coast of South Florida is a prime target for redevelopment and “climate” gentrification. Through a community and movement lawyering for environmental justice approach, we partnered with local community organizations to contribute to the ongoing work of community-driven equitable development. In partnership, we developed an environmental public health study to understand and document the public health effects on disadvantaged communities in Miami-Dade County from forced intra-urban displacement due to redevelopment that is being …

Yes, Low-Income People Do Move, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

One answer to the American housing affordability crisis is for municipalities to allow more housing to be built. Some argue, however, that new housing does not benefit people who seek to remain in their current residence, and that this group is disproportionately poor and/or minority. This article critiques the latter view, pointing out that lower-income households are actually more likely to move because of financial instability.

Housing Equity In Golden Gate Village, Nicole White

Social Justice | Senior Theses

For generations, the African American community has faced many forms of housing discrimination that have created major inequalities in their everyday lived experiences (Lockwood, 2020). This study explores the long-lasting effects of discriminatory housing policies in creating disparate housing conditions within the public housing community in Marin City called Golden Gate Village, as well as the role of the Marin Housing Authority in practices of displacement and neglect. The methodology for the study included seven different interviews with Golden Gate Village residents to obtain knowledge about the community as well as grasp an understanding of the lived experiences of the …

Preserving Manufactured Housing Communities In An Affordable Housing Crisis: How Resident Ownership Offers The Solution, Julia Okerman

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Do Americans Support More Housing?, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

An analysis of opinion poll data on housing issues. The article finds that Americans generally believe that their community needs more housing of all types, but are more closely divided about whether such housing should be in their own neighborhoods. The article further finds that members of minority groups, lower-income Americans, and younger Americans are more pro-housing than older, affluent whites.

Repealing Single-Family Zoning Is Not Enough: A Proposal For Removing Existing Parallel Private Covenants For Violating Public Policy, Gerald Korngold

Articles & Chapters

The United States is currently suffering a pervasive and unsettling shortage of housing and increased housing unaffordability. Rents are at an all-time high, which has a disproportionate impact on people of color and people earning lower incomes as they are more likely to rent rather than owns their homes. Moreover, people solidly in the middle class are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase residences within their budgets.

Critics have identified “single-family zoning”—allowing only one single-family home per lot--as a major cause of housing supply and affordability problems. In response, a handful of states and cities have recently passed legislation that …

Rights And Remedies: Rental Housing For Low-Income Households In The United States, David Ray Papke, Mary Elise Papke

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The state of rental housing for low-income households in the United States is deplorable. Unaffordable, unsanitary, and insecure, this housing violates the internationally recognized right of housing. While the United States has never formally recognized that right, the right guarantees not only a roof overhead but also affordability, habitability, and security of tenure. Policies and programs seeking to remedy the problems in rental housing might consciously address these aspects of rental housing. Policies and programs of this sort will not be enough to eliminate all problems, but they would alleviate a matter of great embarrassment, namely, the most affluent country …

Inviting The People Into People's Court: Embracing Non-Attorney Representation In Eviction Proceedings, Gregory Zlotnick

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Evictions often hide in plain sight—and so does one of the most effective responses. Studies uniformly confirm that represented tenants avoid evictions, and with it associated downstream effects, at appreciably higher rates than unrepresented tenants. Tenant representation is one of the most cost-effective anti-poverty interventions available in our housing system. Lawyers should support its expansion, even if and when it a non-lawyer serves as that intervenor in eviction court.

This paper argues that the legal profession should embrace and expand existing pathways for training eligible and interested individuals, regardless of whether they are licensed attorneys, to assist tenants facing eviction. …

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 …

Learning From Land Use Reforms: Housing Outcomes And Regulatory Change, Noah Kazis

Law & Economics Working Papers

This essay serves as the introduction for an edited, interdisciplinary symposium of articles studying recent land use reforms at the state and local level. These papers provide important descriptive analyses of a range of policy interventions, using quantitative and qualitative methods to provide new empirical insights into zoning reform strategies.

After situating and summarizing the collected articles, the Introduction draws out shared themes. For example, these essays demonstrate the efficacy of recent reforms, not only at facilitating housing production but at doing so in especially difficult contexts (like when producing affordable housing and redeveloping single-family neighborhoods). They point to the …