Housing Law (LAW-985-001)
Brandon Weiss
Meets: 02:30 PM - 04:20 PM (W)
Enrolled: 16 / Limit: 22
Notices
For enrolled students, please visit the course Canvas site for a list of all course requirements and materials, available here:
https://american.instructure.com/courses/4773Description
This seminar explores housing law and policy as oriented around two central issues: housing affordability and residential racial segregation in the United States. The course is discussion based, with students expected to play an active participatory role. The following topics are among those we discuss: modern federal, state, and local government intervention in housing markets; the history of subsidized housing policy in the U.S.; exclusionary and inclusionary zoning; the regulation of rents via rent control and rent stabilization; housing discrimination and federal and state fair housing law; the racialized history of housing development patterns in the U.S.; constitutional housing issues, including the criminalization of homelessness; and various relevant aspects of landlord-tenant law. Housing issues are examined from a variety of perspectives, including those of tenants, landlords, government regulators, and numerous housing advocacy groups.
Textbooks and Other Materials
The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.
The required books for the course are:
RICHARD ROTHSTEIN, THE COLOR OF LAW: A FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF HOW OUR GOVERNMENT SEGREGATED AMERICA (2017) (ISBN: 978-1-63149-453-6).
MATTHEW DESMOND, EVICTED: POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN CITY (2016) (ISBN: 978-0-553-44745-3).
First Class Readings
For our first class session on August 26, please complete the following reading:
Chapters 5 & 6 from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies State of the Nation's Housing Report (2019), available at: https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2019
Syllabus
Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):
Adobe Acrobat (PDF)