Housing Law Commons^™

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Fraud On Airbnb: How To Regulate An Emerging And Problematic Industry, Samuel Mcneal

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

In Section I, this article explains the issues within Airbnb and why they need addressing. Section II explains the current state of Airbnb regulation and identifies the loopholes within that regulation that harm consumers. Section III shows why Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects Airbnb from some regulations, but why it also allows harm to persist against Airbnb. Section IV will posit that the Federal Trade Commission should oversee a broad, context-based regulation of Airbnb to protect consumers through a risk management reporting mechanism similar to the financial reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission required under the …

Toward “The Most Freedom”: Decriminalizing Sex Work Alleviates Housing Discrimination And Housing Instability Faced By Sex Workers In New York City, Bianca B. Li

Journal of Law and Policy

While sex work has been incrementally decriminalized in New York City, statutes that criminalize some forms of sex work remain good law in New York City and generate potentially life-altering penalties for sex workers who are arrested or convicted under these laws. This leads to complications for sex workers who seek to rent apartments. The New York City Human Rights Law, the City’s anti-discrimination statute, does not offer explicit protection to sex workers against housing discrimination, and two criminal laws penalize property owners for allowing sex work to occur on or near their premises. This Note explores the shortcomings of …

Penolakan Kpr Sebagai Syarat Tangguh Pembatalan Ppjb (Studi Kasus: Putusan Nomor 1138/Pdt.G/2020/Pn Sby), Alfin Permana Lutfi, Lauditta Humaira

Lex Patrimonium

This thesis analyzes Decision Number 1138/Pdt.G/2020/PN. Sby regarding the problem of refusing mortgages which resulted in binding agreements in buying and selling houses. The problems to be examined are the legal provisions regarding mortgage approval as a tough condition in the house sale and purchase agreement and the enforceability of PPJB cancellation and exoneration clauses in the construction of civil law in Indonesia with regard to the case in decision number 1138/Pdt.G/2020/PN.Sby. As for the legal provisions regarding KPR approval as a tough condition for PPJB cancellation, they are not clearly regulated in Indonesian laws and regulations. The house sale …

Housing Discrimination And Negative Attitudes Towards Ex-Offender Parents, Julie Wertheimer-Meier

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While the Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination because of race, gender, religion, sex, disability, family status, and national origin, it allows housing providers to discriminate on the basis of criminal history. Prior research shows that housing providers disproportionately deny housing to ex-offender applicants and single parent applicants with young children. An ex-offender parent’s inability to acquire safe and affordable housing decreases the potential for reunification with their children and increases the risk of lost custody or parental rights termination. This dissertation consisted of two experiments that examined the effects of negative attitudes towards ex-offender parents on those parents’ ability …

Second-Generation Source Of Income Housing Discrimination, Armen H. Merjian

Utah Law Review

This Article aims to provide courts and practitioners with the tools they need to address second-generation SOI discrimination, examining the most prevalent tactics and marshalling the relevant materials in one place. Part I of this Article provides a brief overview of SOI discrimination, demonstrating that such discrimination is rampant throughout the country, even in states and municipalities with SOI protections. Part II examines the statutes and authorities relating to the most common manifestations of second-generation SOI discrimination, namely minimum-income and minimum-credit requirements. Part III applies those authorities to voucher holders with both full and partial vouchers, demonstrating that these requirements …

Crypto In Real Estate Finance, R. Wilson Freyermuth, Christopher K. Odinet, Andrea Tosato

Faculty Scholarship

Blockchain and cryptocurrencies have ushered in a digital gold rush. But all that glitters is not gold. The latest fad is the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to purchase and finance real estate. Typically, crypto real estate transactions begin with the transfer of title for a residential property into a dedicated business entity, such as a limited liability company. Thereafter, an NFT is ‘minted’ and used to represent the ownership interest in that entity. The real property is then marketed online specifying that, to acquire it, one simply purchases the relevant NFT via a blockchain transfer. Crucially, buyers are expected …

Race, Ethnicity, And Fair Housing Enforcement: A Regional Analysis, Charles S. Bullock Iii, Charles M. Lamb, Eric M. Wilk

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

This article systematically compares how federal, state, and local civil rights agencies in the ten standard regions of the United States enforce fair housing law complaints filed by Blacks and Latinos. Specifically, it explores the extent to which regional outcomes at all three levels of government are decided favorably where, between 1989 and 2010, a racial or ethnic violation of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 or the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 is alleged. The results reveal significant variations in outcomes between these groups across the country. Most importantly, the probability of an outcome favorable to the complainant …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Taking The Long Road: The Excessive Fines Clause As A Tool For Protecting Washington's Unsheltered Population, Anna Ferron

Washington Law Review

Over the last decade, Washington State has seen a substantial increase in its unhoused population and an increase in laws that harm this group. Many of these laws subject unhoused and unsheltered people to fines, fees, and forfeitures that are exceedingly difficult for them to afford. The ExcessiveFinesClauses in the United States and Washington Constitutions protect citizens from fines deemed constitutionally excessive and could be used to shield unsheltered people from the burden of paying unjust fines they cannot afford. In City of Seattle v. Long, the Washington State Supreme Court analyzed the ability to pay of a person who …

Eviction Sealing Should Top New Mexico’S Legislative Housing Agenda, Allison Freedman

Faculty Scholarship

In January 2023, the White House released a Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights, which called for immediate sealing of eviction case filings—often referred to as “Scarlet E’s”—to help reduce the likelihood that tenants would be “locked out of future housing opportunities without the chance to defend themselves.”

The Weakness Of Neighborhood Revitalization Planning In The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program: Warnings From Connecticut, Noah Kazis, Katherine M. O'Regan

Articles

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is the nation's largest program to produce and preserve subsidized housing. To ensure that LIHTC avoids harmfully concentrating poverty, entrenching segregation, or inefficiently deploying resources, federal law requires that states prioritize allocating credits to projects located in high-poverty locations that contribute to a "concerted community revitalization plan" (CCRP). In high-poverty neighborhoods, tax credit developments are meant to facilitate broader neighborhood revitalization, not only to benefit the residents of the housing itself. This paper provides new, empirical support for long-standing concerns that the CCRP process is ineffectively enforced.

Looking at each application for competitive tax …

Regionalization And Access To Fair Housing In Erie County, Ny, Christopher Holtkamp, Russell Weaver, Heather R. Abraham, Jason Knight

Journal Articles

This paper examines how political fragmentation in Erie County, NY, USA impacts the availability of affordable housing and economic opportunity for residents. In the post-World War II era, employment rapidly migrated to the suburbs, resulting in spatial disconnections between extant residential geographies of the principal City of Buffalo and older, inner-ring suburbs, and the emerging economic geographies of second- and outer-ring municipalities. Stated alternatively, the typical distance between workers and workplace steadily increased. As jobs suburbanized, affordable housing opportunities did not, leaving many low-income residents either isolated from new employment opportunities altogether or paying higher transportation costs for employment farther …

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 …

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. …

All Dogs Are Emotional Support Animals: The Timely Need To Reconsider The Rights Of Renters To Have Dogs Under The Fair Housing Act, Leigh Cummings

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The lack of pet-friendly housing options in the United States and the current web of property-owner-imposed restrictions unfairly prevents renters and lower-income individuals and families from benefitting from dog companionship. The recent confusion and stigma around the term “emotional support animal” has led to misinterpretation of the requirements of a reasonable accommodation request under the Fair Housing Act. Interpreting “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act as a blanket classification that applies to all dogs would reverse this current bias. Restrictions should promote responsible pet caretaking, not limit dog ownership. Considering recent heightened protections for dogs in other areas of …

Persistent Impediments And The Geography Of “Affirmatively Furthering” Fair Housing: The Case Of Erie County, Ny, Jason Knight, Heather R. Abraham, Christopher Holtkamp, Russell Weaver

Journal Articles

Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, segregation and discrimination remain key characteristics of the American housing system. The Act sought to reverse decades of private and public sector policies that contributed to segregated neighborhoods and the exclusion of protected classes from equal access to housing. Under the Act, communities receiving funds from US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are required to “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH). This paper examines the AFFH mandate as operationalized by HUD grantees in Erie County, NY, by evaluating six Analysis of Impediments (AI) to Fair Housing reports prepared from …

Consumer Fraud, Home Financing, And The Erosion Of Trust, Linda E. Fisher

Northwestern University Law Review

Consumer fraud is a civil violation of a remedial statute not requiring specific intent to deceive. Most consumer fraud statutes define violations as unconscionable, misleading, or deceptive practices irrespective of intent, in derogation of the principle of caveat emptor. They do not apply to business-to-business transactions. Trust plays a central role in business-to-consumer transactions. Because consumers are individuals, there is often an inherent inequality in consumer transactions. Sophisticated marketing techniques—especially target marketing that follows potential customers all over the internet—hound consumers’ online lives and manipulate purchasing decisions. The increasing monetization of almost everything exacerbates these effects. This transactionalism itself erodes …

Appraisal Discrimination: Five Lessons For Litigators, Heather R. Abraham

Journal Articles

Appraisal discrimination not only persists, but its influence has actually increased in some housing markets. New studies document how contemporary appraisal methods operate as systemic racism, such as how appraisers select from a narrower set of comparable properties when appraising homes in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Recent events have renewed public attention to appraisal discrimination, from shocking news stories to a new multiagency federal task force. In tandem, a new wave of litigation has emerged. This Article examines litigation as one element of a multifaceted approach to combatting appraisal discrimination. After examining the weaknesses of the regulatory framework governing appraisals, this …