January 2009 Housing Law Bulletin Summaries

January 2009 Bulletin Cover

Chasing the Justice Dream: Housing as Justice
Luncheon speech given by David Hall, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law, to the participants of the Housing Justice Network Meeting on December 8, 2008.

D.C. Circuit Enforces Protections for Enhanced Voucher Holders Under Federal and Local Law
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has decided that an owner converting federally assisted property to market rate must accept the tenants’ enhanced vouchers, as required both by the federal enhanced voucher statute and by local law prohibiting discrimination based upon source of income. In Feemster v. BSA Limited Partnership, the court affirmed the lower court’s interpretation of the enhanced voucher statute and reversed its decision that the local source of income protection law did not prohibit the owner’s refusal to accept the vouchers. As a result, the tenants may remain in occupancy until their tenancy is lawfully terminated under local law, and the lower court will now determine other available remedies for the local law violations. This article provides background and overviews of the enhanced voucher claim under federal and local source of income laws.

HUD Publishes Violence Against Women Act Interim Rule
In late November, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took its first step toward adopting regulations to implement the housing provisions of the Violence Against Women Act of 2005 (VAWA). HUD published an interim rule that would amend existing subsidized housing regulations, including those governing the public housing and Section 8 programs, to incorporate VAWA’s protections for survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking. For the most part, the interim rule parrots VAWA’s statutory language, frustrating advocates, public housing agencies (PHAs), and owners who had hoped that the regulations would clarify some of VAWA’s ambiguities. However, some provisions differ from the statute and, in fact, could be problematic for advocates representing survivors. This article provides an overview of these provisions.

Fair Housing Tax Credit Case Survives Motion to Dismiss
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas recently denied a Motion to Dismiss by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) in a fair housing case brought by the Inclusive Communities Project (ICP), which sought to increase the number of affordable housing units in more racially and economically integrated neighborhoods. TDHCA argued that ICP had no standing to bring the suit and that the case could not go forward because of ICP’s failure to join the IRS and the City of Dallas. However, the court found in favor of ICP on all issues presented, permitting the case to proceed. This article provides background and an overview of the case.

L.A. Acts to Prevent Arbitrary Evictions from Foreclosed Units
In Los Angeles, tenants in foreclosed properties have lost their homes through no fault of their own, and the rising number of vacant units has negatively impacted communities. In response, the city’s Housing Department issued a notice in December affirming that the foreclosure of a rental property is not a valid ground for eviction under the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance (LARSO). The ordinance sets forth twelve legal reasons for eviction of tenants living in properties covered by LARSO. This article provides a brief overview of the notice and ordinance.

Arroyo Vista Tenants Continue Challenge to Proposed Public Housing Disposition
Tenants of a public housing property in California are pursuing their claims that the PHA has violated public housing, environmental and fair housing laws in seeking to sell their homes under a redevelopment plan that would provide for fewer deeply affordable units serving fewer families. Following an earlier federal court ruling that the tenants could pursue their relocation claims against the housing authority under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the tenants have continued to press their case, as described below. This article provides background and an overview of the case to date.

Regular Features: Summaries of recent federal and state housing cases and federal housing regulations and notices.