Housing Law Commons^™

Issues Facing Boston: 1984, Housing, Phillip L. Clay

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

The housing problem in Boston is one issue facing the new council which offers both opportunity and complexity. In a city where 70 percent of the households are tenants, where incomes are low and housing expensive, and where major demographic and economic changes are taking place, easy answers are not available. But housing, unlike other issues, is a matter over which the city has some leverage so that progress will be noted and appreciated by an increasingly attentive electorate.

In recent years, the city has not faced the challenge of greater local discretion in housing policy (made available by the …

Housing Issues In Boston: Guidelines For Options And Strategies, Joseph S. Slavet

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

Most of the recent analyses of Boston's housing problem reveal a complex and contradictory mix of positive trends and negative factors, clouded by a growing percentage of poor and near-poor resident households in the City and declining commitments by the federal government to housing, particularly for subsidies of new housing production.

That Boston's housing problem, unlike that of many other large cities, is of manageable proportions, however, is attributable mainly to the following demographic trends and forecasts that are not likely to exacerbate the problem and that many even ease some of the most serious current and future pressures of …

Boston's Housing In 1984: Issues And Opportunities, Rolf Goetze

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

Sharp cutbacks in federal aid for housing and community development now challenge Boston to become more resourceful in its housing strategies. In the neighborhoods where new solutions are needed, much has already been happening that can be adapted and expanded. Fortunately, the City's resurgence can also help achieve more results with less public resources, but a fresh approach involving community interests is essential. At the same time, local laws, procedures and programs devised to address past problems must also be critically re-evaluated to determine their appropriateness to the new realities.

Confidence in Boston's future is being uplifted, and many neighborhoods …

Shelter Poverty In Boston: Problem And Program, Michael E. Stone

McCormack Graduate School General Publications (active until 2013)

This paper argues, first, that most housing problems—in Boston and throughout the nation—are ultimately the result of the squeeze between inadequate incomes, on the one hand, and the cost of profitably providing housing on the other. It is also argued that housing cost and incomes together are the most decisive determinants of the overall quality of life of families and communities. Third, it is contended that the long history of inadequate attempts to cope with the affordabiiity problem have not only failed to solve the problem, but have indeed contributed significantly to the broader and serious problems of the overall …

Housing Issues In Boston: Guidelines For New Policy And Program Perspectives, Joseph S. Slavet, Boston Urban Observatory, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Boston Urban Observatory Publications

Urban stagnation and turbulence, the roller-coaster trends In the national and local economy and the vicissitudes of national, state and local public policies have left their mark on Boston's residential neighborhoods and housing markets.

Boston's response to the new opportunities of public policy during the sixties and seventies was to take full advantage of urban renewal, assis ted-housing production and housing rehabilitation. Large-scale activities reshaped the occupancy patterns and market strengths of residential neighborhoods. By mid-1975, however, except for continuing growth in the City's subsidized housing stock, Boston's housing future looked bleak. There was pervasive evidence of a growing housing …

Devines V. Maier: The Seventh Circuit Extends The Right Of Just Compensation To Tenants For The Taking Of Their Leasehold, Daniel Burke

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Will The "Sunset" On The American Dream? Two Years Of Experience Under The Mortgage Subsidy Bond Tax Act, Geoffrey W. Sager

Fordham Urban Law Journal

In the 1970s, housing became increasingly unattainable for low-income single-families who were unable to afford rising housing prices. As a response, state and local housing finance agencies (HFAs) issued tax-exempt single-family mortgage bonds to finance mortgage loans. However, Congress shortly thereafter passed the Mortgage Subsidy Bond Tax Act, denying tax exclusion to such loans. This Comment examines the validity and effectiveness of selected major provisions of the Act which are unique to single-family mortgage revenue bonds, in particular the sunset provision. Ultimately, this Comment concludes that the sunset provision of the Act is unconstitutional.

Examining Cooperative Conversion: An Analysis Of Recent New York Legislation, Robert M. Nelson

Fordham Urban Law Journal

New York City contains ninety-five percent of the cooperative housing units in the United States. While there are historical and social factors for this statistic, a specific factor is the New York State Legislature's support of conversion of residential real estate from rental to cooperative ownership. Specifically, the "Goodman-Grannis" bill provides a method whereby developers may convert residential rental housing in New York City to cooperative housing without obtaining an agreement to purchase a cooperative apartment from any of the existing tenants. Under this method, tenants who do not desire to purchase their apartments as cooperatives may remain in the …

The Rights Of Unmarried Cohabiting Couples To Housing In New York, Matthew G. Connolly

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note examines the protections available to unmarried couples against housing discrimination under the marital status provision of the New York City and New York State Human Rights Laws. After a brief examnitation of cohabitation, this Note will review judicial and administrative construction of the Human Rights Law since its inception. This Note concludes by proposing that unwed couples be given the same protection as married couples under the marital status provision in the New York Human Rights Law. This proposition finds support in: (1) the statutory mandate that the Human Rights Law be liberally construed to accomplish its purspose, …

Recent Developments In Housing And Community Development, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

This has been an active year in the area of housing and community development, with many of the recent changes oriented toward coping with a fluctuating housing finance market or assessing the effect of increased governmental activity in many sectors upon private rights and causes of action. The first section by the members of the Committee on Housing and Community Development focuses upon recent changes in federal regulations dealing with the private sector, more specifically the fundamental change in enforcement of "due-on-sale" clauses. The second section in this article examines new policies relating to transfers of the ownership of housing …

Gentrification And The Law: Combatting Urban Displacement, Henry Mcgee, Donald C. Bryant Jr.

Faculty Articles

This article stresses a "push" perspective in its examination of how these legally structured forces have stimulated the return of the gentry to the central urban areas of the United States.

The Dilemma Of The Refugee: His Standard For Relief, Leon Wildes

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Institutional Injunctions, David Rudenstine

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Taming Of A Duty--The Tort Liability Of Landlords, Olin L. Browder

Michigan Law Review

For one inclined to reform the first-year curriculum in law schools the most simple and comprehensive solution is to expand the treatment of the law on landlord and tenant, and only then break up into the traditional basic subjects to deal with matters not previously covered. Thereby one could embrace all the traditional first-year subjects except Criminal Law, and a good deal more as well.

The other side of this conceit is that one who approaches the modem law of landlord and tenant from traditional property perspectives encounters particular problems that arise from the margins, or along the frontal thrust, …

Toward A New Theory Of Roman Law, David F. Pugsley

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Landlords and Tenants in Imperial Rome by Bruce W. Frier

Retaliatory Evictions In Washington And Seattle: In Search Of Public Policy, Brian T. Mcmanus

Washington Law Review

Retaliatory eviction occurs when a landlord evicts a tenant because the tenant took action to compel the landlord to comply with the law. Because tenants had no laws with which to compel landlords to comply until the relatively recent advent of remedial housing legislation, the retaliatory eviction defense is a recent development in the law. After examining the historical basis for the retaliatory eviction defense, this comment discusses remedial housing legislation in Washington. It illustrates (i) the historical concern of both the state legislature and the state supreme court for quality rental housing; (ii) the state's historical dependence on municipalities …

Reexamining Federal Housing Programs In A Time Of Fiscal Austerity: The Trend Toward Block Grants And Housing Allowances, John R. Nolon

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article begins with an examination of the evolution of the federal government's predominant role in collecting and spending revenues for social programs, including housing. It traces the growth of federal spending, and the evolution of federally assisted programs for housing. It continues with an analysis of the trend toward block grants and housing allowances, and concludes by commenting on this trend's effect on the future of housing programs for households with limited incomes.

The Future Of Tenants' Rights In Assisted Housing Under A Reagan Voucher Plan: An Analysis Of Section 8 Existing Housing Cases, Joan C. Williams

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of New York Loft Conversion Law, William Eckstein

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Prior to World War II, buildings of five to ten stories, called lofts, used to house small factories, dominated lower Manhattan. As these buildings were converted to residences after World War II, laws and regulations regarding conversion were enacted haphazardly. The New York state legislature is considering a bill, Article 7C, Legalization of Interim Multiple Dwellings, designed to address the inadequacies which characterize loft conversion laws. This Note analyzes the propriety of Article 7C by reviewing the evolution of New York loft conversion law. The viewpoints of tenants, landlords, and city officials are presented in separate sections. This Note concludes …

Maintaining Residential Integration: Municipal Practices And Law, Kermit J. Lind

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article focuses on the policies and programs that can be established to sustain racial diversity in housing. It reviews the circumstances that give rise to such policies and programs, describes the legal framework within which they must be fit, and examines some of them in light of the needs and interests of policy makers in communities that are open to minority groups. Since effective housing integration policies and programs can vary significantly from one place to another, each municipality must consider its options in view of its circumstances and the changing conditions in its housing market. In response to …

Gentrification: The Class Conflict Over Urban Space Moves Into The Courts, Harold A. Mcdougall

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Gentrification of inner-cities has resulted in a class conflict over urban space. An issue in the federal courts is whether the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can build, sponsor, or subsidize low income housing projects within or near revitalized neighborhoods. In Stryker's Bay Neighborhood Council v. Karlen, the United States Supreme Court held that HUD's decision-making process relating to the placement of low income housing is beyond judicial review. This Article reviews recent litigation in Philadelphia, Chicago and Boston in light of Stryker's Bay, and concludes that in order to protect federal efforts to maintain the integrated character …

Standing After Havens Realty: A Critique And An Alternative Framework For Analysis, Paul A. Lebel

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of City Of Boston Fair Housing Programs: The Final Report, Boston Urban Observatory, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Boston Urban Observatory Publications

The City of Boston's 3-year Pair Housing Plan (1981-83) identifies the following six goals for achieving greater freedom of choice in housing for its minority residents: 1) To improve the delivery of services relative to the enhancement of freedom of choice to all minorities in Boston as they relate to fair housing; 2) To increase enforcement of fair housing laws; 3) To increase public safety and security to assure equal access throughout the City of Boston; 4) To Increase the participation of all minorities and low-and moderate-income people in all City of Boston housing programs; 5) To increase low-cost housing …

Loretto V. Teleprompter, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Group Homes, Families, And Meaning In The Law Of Subdivision Covenants, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

Part I of this Article discusses two questions central to a general account of the problem of meaning in the law of subdivision covenants. First, whose meaning ought to count? The answer to this question is developed principally by contrasting the meaning problem in covenants law with the related problem in other legal realms such as contractual and statutory interpretation. Second, what should be the role in contemporary covenants law of the traditional rule requiring that ambiguity in covenant language be resolved in favor of the free use of land. Here the Article explores the nature of ambiguity and critiques …

Compensatory Damages In Federal Fair Housing Cases, Robert G. Schwemm

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The federal fair housing laws became effective in 1968. Since then, courts have often awarded damages to victims of housing discrimination, but their decisions have provided little guidance for assessing the amount of such awards. There is a great range of awards, with some courts awarding only nominal damages of $1 and others setting awards of over $20,000. Compounding the problem is the difficulty of measuring the principal element of damages claimed by most plaintiffs in fair housing cases, noneconomic emotional harm or other forms of intangible injury.

Rarely is the basis for the amount of the court's award satisfactorily …

Apartheid In America: A Historical And Legal Analysis Of Contemporary Racial Segregation In The United States, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Apartheid in America: A Historical and Legal Analysis of Contemporary Racial Segregation in the United States by James A. Kushner

Condominium Law: A Comparison Of The Uniform Act With The Illinois Act, 14 J. Marshall L. Rev. 387 (1981), Stephen B. Cohen, Allen Goldberg, Conrad M. Mulvaney

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Implied Warranties In Ohio Home Sales, Susan B. Brooks

Cleveland State Law Review

The majority of states other than Ohio have rejected the caveat emptor doctrine and adopted an implied warranty of habitability in the sale of new homes, but the irony of this situation is that it was an Ohio case, Vanderschrier v. Aaron, that first recognized implied warranties in the sale of a home. This Note will demonstrate that Ohio should adopt an implied warranty of habitability in the sale of new homes by builder-vendors.

Reforming The Mobile Home Tenant-Landlord Relationship: The Ohio Experience, Edward G. Kramer, James Buchanan, Marilyn Tobocman Sobol

Cleveland State Law Review

Ohio ranks among the top ten states for the total number of existing mobile homes. In addition, the sale of new and used mobile homes in Ohio has grown into a multi-million dollar business. Ohio has been slow, however, to respond to the needs of housing consumers who choose to live in mobile homes. Not until late 1977 was there a landlord-tenant law for mobile home residents. This article will review the development of the Ohio mobile home landlord-tenant law and the rights and obligations of mobile homeowners and park operators under this law.