Housing Law Commons^™

Black Suburbanization: Potent Hope Or Illusory Promise?, Mary Jo Wiggins

Marquette Law Review

Suburbs are popular. People like living in them, and scholars like studying them. For the first time, more Americans live in the suburbs than in central cities. Perhaps more noteworthy is that more Black Americans live in the suburbs than ever before. Given these realities, it is not surprising that the suburbs have become a laboratory for analyzing a host of political, legal, and economic questions.

In previous scholarship, I examined the complex phenomenon of Black suburbanization through the lens of two communities: South DeKalb, Georgia and Prince George’s County, Maryland. These communities were part of what I called the …

Goodbye, Zoning?, Michael Allan Wolf

UF Law Faculty Publications

American zoning is under attack on multiple fronts. The concerns of zoning's many critics range from social and racial justice, to private property rights, to the extreme shortage of affordable housing, to climate-change resilience and sustainability. A growing number of voices have called for, at a minimum, the elimination of single-family zones; some even champion the abolition of this ubiquitous method of American land use regulation. This Article is the first detailed look at what would happen if zoning's critics got their way. The most efficient means for erasing zoning from American law would be for the U.S. Supreme Court …

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

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Measuring Local Policy To Advance Fair Housing And Climate Goals Through A Comprehensive Assessment Of Land Use Entitlements, Moira O'Neill, Eric Biber, Nicholas J. Marantz

Pepperdine Law Review

California’s legislature has passed several laws that intervene in local land-use regulation in order to increase desperately needed housing production—particularly affordable housing production. Some of these new laws expand local reporting requirements concerning zoning and planning laws, and the application of those laws apply to proposed housing development. This emphasis on measurement requires the state to develop a housing data strategy to support both enforcement of existing law and effective policymaking in the future. Our Comprehensive Assessment of Land Use Entitlements Study (CALES) predates, but aligns with and supports, this state-led effort to improve local reporting. For the cities that …

Using Youtube To Explain Housing, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

In 2021, the author ran for Borough President of Manhattan, New York. The author tried to his scholarship into his campaign by producing over twenty Youtube videos, most of which addressed land use and housing policy. The article describes the videos, and evaluates their usefulness.

Singling Out Single-Family Zoning, John Infranca

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Single-family zoning is increasingly under attack in both the popular press and scholarly journals. Critics highlight how zoning districts that allow only detached, single-family homes exacerbate racial and economic segregation and perpetuate wealth disparities. Although a few local and state legislatures have eased regulations to permit denser development in existing single-family neighborhoods, such neighborhoods remain the dominant component of American zoning. The power of local governments to impose zoning derives from the police power—traditionally understood as the power to legislate in furtherance of health, safety, and the public welfare. These traditional concerns seem to provide little justification for prohibiting duplexes …

Equitable, Affordable And Climate-Cognizant Housing Construction, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The almost universal sentiment by a growing body of physical and social scientists is that climate change--with its floods, drought, heat, and cold-- portend losses of life, communities, property, and the rhythms of living. Some are more vulnerable to these impacts than others: individuals and the poor, who through official government policy and self-interest in the housing markets, have been relegated to live in poorly-constructed and poorly-placed structures--in the wake of ocean surges; in the path of strong winds; near hazardous and noxious facilities; stranded in urban heat islands. Failing to heed climate change omens will lead to a world …

The Limits Of Equity, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

"Equity" is a common buzzword in urban planning circles. However, nearly any land use decision can be justified as more equitable than the alternatives.

The Short-Term Rental Economy In Rural Maine Communities: An Opportunity For Economic Growth Instead Of A Target For Regulation, Nicholas E. Anania

Maine Law Review

State and local governments across the country are grappling with the rise of short-term housing rentals and how to enact effective regulation regarding their use. The increase of short-term rentals (STRs) is almost entirely the result of online platforms that make STRs easy, efficient, and accessible. While STRs undoubtedly have positive economic outcomes for both property owners and local economies, there are also many negative repercussions which must be effectively regulated. Regulation in this area reflects differing priorities and viewpoints of states and municipalities. Specifically, rural Maine municipalities, many of which are popular seasonal destinations, face not only the challenges …

Regulating Short-Term Rentals In California's Costal Cities: Harmonizing Local Ordinances With The California Costal Act, Lucy Humphreys

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

In the past several years, local governments throughout California have debated and implemented new ordinances in order to regulate short-term rentals, such as those listed on peer-to-peer vacation rental platforms like Airbnb.California’s coastal cities face distinct challenges whentrying to regulate short-term rentals due to the popularity of short-term rentals in their jurisdictions, rising housing prices along the coast, and California Coastal Act requirements. One of the primary goals of the California Coastal Act is to maximize public access to the coast. This Article explores the interplay between state policy embodied by the Coastal Act and the ordinances passed by local …

Non-Enforcement Takings, Timothy M. Mulvaney

Faculty Scholarship

The non-enforcement of existing property laws is not logically separable from the issue of unfair and unjust state deprivations of property rights at which the Constitution's Takings Clause takes aim. This Article suggests, therefore, that takings law should police allocations resulting from non-enforcement decisions on the same "fairness and justice" grounds that it polices allocations resulting from decisions to enact and enforce new regulations. Rejecting the extant majority position that state decisions not to enforce existing property laws are categorically immune from takings liability is not to advocate that persons impacted by such decisions should be automatically or even regularly …

Side By Side: Revitalizing Urban Cores And Ensuring Residential Diversity, Andrea J. Boyack

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Linchpin Approaches To Salvaging Neighborhoods In The Legacy Cities Of The Midwest, Shelley Cavalieri

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Zoning’S Centennial: A Complete Account Of The Evolution Of Zoning Into A Robust System Of Land Use Law—1916-2016 (Part Iii), John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In land use, there are two things that Americans dislike: one is sprawl, the other is density. This catch-22 can be resolved by mitigating those aspects of urban living associated with density: congestion, bulky buildings, sameness, design incongruities, unsafe streets, inefficiency, and the sense that neighborhoods are not livable and pleasant. These characteristics of density cut against sustainability. They define places that people want to leave as soon as they can. To reduce vehicle miles travelled and carbon emissions, as well as to prevent sprawl, we must create places of enduring value, located next to transit in walkable and sustainable …

The Politics Of Chinese Land: Partial Reform, Vested Interests And Small Property, Shitong Qiao

Faculty Scholarship

This paper investigates the evolution of the Chinese land regime in the past three decades and focus on one question: why has the land use reform succeeded in the urban area, but not in the rural area? Through asking this question, it presents a holistic view of Chinese land reform, rather than the conventional "rural land rights conflict" picture. This paper argues that the so­called rural land problem is the consequence of China's partial land use reform. In 1988, the Chinese government chose to conduct land use reform sequentially: first urban and then rural. It was a pragmatic move because …

The Housing Element: How Can Its Adequacy Be Measured? , Nina E. West, James C. Schroeder

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Title I Of The 1974 Housing And Community Development Act And Its Impact On Local Communities, Edward E. Haworth

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

California Planning Law: Requirements For Low And Moderate Income Housing , C. Foster Knight

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

The New Progressive Property And The Low-Income Housing Conflict, Zachary A. Bray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The foundation of property law has been much debated in recent years, as several scholars have sought to provide a theoretical alternative to what they call the dominant, “law-and-economics” approach to property. In place of the law-and-economics approach, these scholars advance a new theoretical approach, which I call “the new progressive property.” At its core, this new approach favors rules thought to promote the collective well-being of the larger community while ensuring that relatively disadvantaged members of society have access to certain basic resources. This Article explores the boundaries and practical implications of the new progressive property. To do so, …

Following Industry's Leed : Municipal Adoption Of Private Green Building Standards, Sarah B. Schindler

Faculty Publications

Local governments are beginning to require new, privately constructed and funded buildings to be “green” buildings. Instead of creating their own, locally-derived definitions of green buildings, many municipalities are adopting an existing private standard created by members of the building industry: LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). This Article explains and assesses the privately promulgated LEED standards. It argues that the translation of LEED standards, which were intended to be voluntary, into law raises several theoretical and practical problems. Specifically, private green building ordinances that rely on LEED do not ensure a reduction in the negative local environmental impacts …

Land Use And Housing Policies To Reduce Concentrated Poverty And Racial Segregation, Myron Orfield

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article recommends that land use and housing policies be marshaled to reduce residential racial segregation and concentrated poverty. It argues secondly, that state legislatures must adopt a coordinated policy approach. This Article uses Oregon's comprehensive land use legislation as a paradigmatic example of policies that effectively promote affordable housing and decrease urban sprawl. Finally, the article discusses nine policies that the author believes are necessary to promote stable metropolitan living patterns.

New Urbanism: Urban Development And Ethnic Integration In Europe And The United States, James A. Kushner

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

No abstract provided.

Real Estate And Land Use Law, John V. Cogbill Iii, D. Brennen Keene

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Search For A National Land Use Policy: For The Cities' Sake, Shelby D. Green

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article offers a survey of federal legislation and statements of policy that have shaped and directed land use and related phenomena, including the location of population, economic growth, and the character of urban development. Part I of this article provides a historical development of land use policies and laws, as well as presents academic and scientific theories supporting a national land use policy. Part II of this article describes patterns of urban and suburban growth and their consequences, such as the decline of the viability of cities and the loss of agricultural land. Part III discusses the government's spending …

Fighting Municipal "Tag-Team": The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act And Its Use In Obtaining Access To Housing For Persons With Disabilities, Robert L. Schonfeld, Seth P. Stein

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Article examines the impact of the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) on prohibiting housing discrimination against persons on the basis of their disabilities, and analyzes the court decisions interpreting the FHAA on questions of land use to determine whether they are consistent with the stated intentions of the drafters of the Amendments. Part I traces the legislative intent behind the FHAA and, specifically, the sections of the Amendments enjoining housing discrimination against persons with handicaps. Part I also analyzes the court decisions interpreting the Amendments’ requirements as to what facts must be demonstrated to prove discrimination. This Part of …

Affordable Housing: Update On Federal And State Activities, Patricia E. Salkin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Fair Housing Act, Zoning, And Affordable Housing, Patricia E. Salkin, John M. Armentano

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

There Goes The Neighborhood: The Evolution Of "Family" In Local Zoning Ordinances, William Graham

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Affordable Housing Forum, Richard F. Bellman, John M. Armentano, Alan Mallach

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.