Fall 2021 Course Schedule

Housing Law (LAW-985-001)
Brandon Weiss

Meets: 02:00 PM - 03:50 PM (W) - Yuma - Room YT17

Enrolled: 20 / Limit: 22

Administrator Access


Notices

The course Canvas site is accessible here: https://american.instructure.com/courses/23161.

Description

This course 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 Wednesday, August 25, 2021, please read chapter five ("Rental Housing") and chapter six ("Housing Challenges") from The State of the Nation's Housing 2021, a report by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, available at: https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_State_Nations_Housing_2021.pdf.

Syllabus

Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):