Housing Law Commons^™

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 …

Emotion Regulation Strategies And Perceived Emotional Intelligence: The Effect Of Age., Iwanna Sepiadou

Adultspan Journal

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We also investigated the possible effects of age on the aforementioned variables. The total sample consisted of 379 people (158 men, 220 women, 1 unreported). Across participants, 273 were young (20-39 years old) and 106 were middle-aged (40-65 years old). We found statistically significant positive correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and negative primarily correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of …

Summary Eviction Proceedings As A Debt Collection Tool: How Landlords Use Serial Eviction Filings To Collect Rent, Grace Vetromile

Brooklyn Law Review

This note explores how landlords use housing court as a debt collection tool, impacting the rights of tenants and their ability to fairly adjudicate claims in summary eviction proceedings. Disparities in the number of evictions that are filed, as compared to evictions that are ultimately executed, indicate that landlords do not always use eviction proceedings to kick out a tenant, but rather as a method of debt collection. Using these proceedings in this manner affects a tenant’s ability to defend against eviction, even when the tenant has meritorious claims that their landlord did not provide a habitable apartment. This note …

The Remedial Rationale After Sffa, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA) limiting the ability of higher education institutions to use race as a factor to advance diversity in the student body, at least one prominent commentator suggested that universities should now justify their affirmative action policies based not on diversity but on the need to remedy discrimination. Chief Justice John Roberts’s majority opinion deems diversity — the rationale established in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke and affirmed in Grutter v. Bollinger — a “commendable” goal. But the …

Averting Plausibility Pleading’S Threats To Novel Fha Legal Claims, Tanya Pierce, Aric Short

Faculty Scholarship

Plausibility pleading requirements articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal continue to confound even well-intentioned courts. But for courts inclined to avoid grappling with modern applications of existing law, they provide ideal camouflage: a way of relying on procedural justifications to ostensibly side-step substantive law decisions—while in effect creating de facto law that robs litigants of their day in court. These negative, unintended consequences of Twombly and Iqbal are vividly illustrated in recent federal litigation brought under the Fair Housing Act involving claims of landlord liability for tenant-on-tenant harassment.

This Article …

A New Framework For Condominium Structural Safety Reforms, Stewart E. Sterk, Reid K. Weisbord

Articles

Forty years after the widespread popularization of residential condominium ownership in the United States, millions of Americans now live in aging, densely occupied structures that are subject to little (if any) ongoing regulation of structural safety. Most structural safety requirements are imposed and enforced at the time of initial construction, thus relegating questions of how to maintain a building’s structural integrity to individual owners and the mechanisms of condominium governance. However, reliance on voluntary action by unit owners too often falters because the divided ownership characteristic of the condominium form deters associations from investing in preventive maintenance. Postponement of critical …

White Paper - Sustainable Housing For Downtown Jacksonville, Jose David Caicedo Gallego

Dean's Leadership Council Library Research Prize

This paper examines the issue of sustainable housing in downtown Jacksonville, focusing on the role of the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA). Established in 2012, the DIA serves to drive growth, and dynamic several aspects in the downtown core. The paper delves into the impacts of the lack of affordable housing on residents, businesses, and visitors, highlighting its implications for health, well-being, and economic prosperity. Drawing on scholarly research and empirical evidence, it exposes the importance of housing policies as determinants of health and advocates for integrated approaches to housing development. Additionally, the paper provides data-driven insights into population demographics, housing …

Agencies “Shall Cooperate”: A Blueprint For Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Every federal agency perpetuates housing segregation. As if on autopilot, agencies routinely reinforce segregation unless they take intentional steps to counteract it. Building on my prior work on the Fair Housing Act’s statutory duty to “affirmatively further fair housing” (“AFFH”), this Article examines an agency’s obligation to reduce housing segregation in how it regulates, spends, and administers its programs. Addressing a gap in existing fair housing scholarship, this Article considers the overlooked statutory command that all federal agencies “shall cooperate” with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) to reduce housing segregation. In light of HUD’s newly proposed …

More Harm Than Good: How State-Sponsored Gentrification Is Driving The Affordable Housing Crisis, And A Call For Accountability And Source-Of-Income Protections, Tolly Maloney

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The affordable housing crisis in the United States stands at the center of conversations surrounding economic, social, and political reform. The inability of millions of Americans to afford a safe place to live is the result of decades of legislation aimed at fiscally benefitting the individuals developing and managing properties labeled “affordable” as opposed to placing low-income Americans in suitable, long-term housing. This Note argues that state-sponsored gentrification, paired with ineffective housing assistance programs and discrimination, is driving the affordable housing crisis in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This Note studies several policy examples of state-sponsored gentrification in Northern Virginia, Richmond, …

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 …

The Missing Half: Revisiting Monetary Remedies To Redress Racial Segregation, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay considers whether courts should have awarded monetary remedies in housing desegregation cases. By examining the relief awarded in public housing desegregation cases brought in United States federal courts between 1966 and 1994, this Essay reveals the limitations of the almost exclusive reliance on forward-looking integration relief as a remedy. The Essay argues that there is a “missing half” of remedies that courts never awarded: compensatory damages for the loss of wealth and opportunity caused by housing segregation. Forward-looking remedies that promised integration have often gone unfulfilled. Understanding these “missing” damages is crucial given recent Supreme Court rulings on …

Resilient Cities And The Housing Trust, Marc L. Roark, Lorna Fox O'Mahony

Arkansas Law Review

In the 1970’s, cities across the United States faced new obstacles due to the deterioration of public infrastructure. Public housing projects that were built through federal housing initiatives were reaching the end of their lives after less than twenty years of being in service. Over the last forty years, cities in the United States have turned increasingly to housing trust funds to address the conjoined problems of the withdrawal of federal resources dedicated to affordable housing provision, and insufficient public housing infrastructure. In this Article we focus on the emergence of the Housing Trust as a vehicle for shoring up …

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, …

New York City Relaxing Environmental Review Rules For Housing Construction, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Faced with a severe housing shortage, New York City is exempting the construction of much new housing from the environmental review processes and taking many other steps to encourage such construction throughout the city. Several of these moves will also help the transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

How Summary Eviction Proceedings Fail Individuals Facing Housing Discrimination, Katherine Alonzo

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice (ERSJ) Blog

Every year, over three million American households are threatened with eviction from their homes. The consequences of eviction are “dire” and affect “every facet of life” that go beyond someone’s physical safety and livelihood. For instance, evictions may leave people unhoused, “[fracture] the integrity of their families, [crush] their livelihoods, [damage] their mental and physical health and their safety, [deprive] them of their place in community and, ultimately, [tear] apart the fabric of their communities.” While Americans of all backgrounds face evictions, there are often large racial, ethnic, and gender disparities among those who face eviction with Black Americans, women, …

Promoting Ethnic Diversity In Public Housing: Singapore And England Compared, Edward Ti, Alvin W. L. See

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Purpose: Although the Singapore model of ethnic integration through its public housing programme is well known, the formula for replicating its success elsewhere remains underexplored. This study aims to identify the criteria for successful transplantation, specifically by identifying the housing tenure types that are most amenable to the implementation of the Singapore model. Design/methodology/approach: Through a comparative study of two common law jurisdictions – Singapore and England – this article highlights the differences in their housing landscapes and how such differences impact upon the adoption of ethnic integration policies through housing. The article also unpacks, through a cross-disciplinary lens, the …

Whither Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing In New York? The Affh Mandate In An Era Of Land Use Reform, Timothy Gentles

Cardozo Law Review

New York is experiencing a severe housing affordability crisis. This crisis is driven by a housing supply shortfall decades in the making. The state’s housing shortage exacerbates economic, racial, and regional inequalities, and harms the economy by limiting growth. New York’s struggles with housing affordability reflect a national surge in housing costs since the pandemic that has disproportionally impacted communities of color. Yet, in many respects, the crisis in New York is worse than that in other states with comparably robust housing demand. The extent of New York’s housing affordability crisis has led to growing momentum behind legislative action in …

Conceptualizing Condominium Law And Children: Comparing The State Of Strata Titles Law In New South Wales And Singapore, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Purpose: This article conceptualises the legal relations embedded within condominium housing and the various theories of property ownership to ascertain how children’s interest fit within this framework. The laws of two jurisdictions, New South Wales and Singapore are examined to determine how their strata law responds when children’s safety is at stake. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative method using case law, statutes and secondary literature across both jurisdictions is adopted. This article also draws on various theories of property ownership. Findings: Drawing on pluralist moral theories of property law, the thesis advanced is that children’s issues within condominiums should not be subject …

Sidewalk Government, Michael C. Pollack

Articles

This Article is about one of the most used, least studied spaces in the country: the sidewalk.

It is easy to think of sidewalks simply as spaces for pedestrians, and that is exactly how most scholars, policymakers, and laws treat them. But this view is fundamentally mistaken. In big cities and small towns, sidewalks are also where we gather, demonstrate, dine, exercise, rest, and shop. They are host to commerce and infrastructure. They are spaces of public access and sources of private obligation. And in all of these things, sidewalks are sites of under-appreciated conflict. The centrality of sidewalks in …

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 …