Evidence And Innovation In Housing Law And Policy

This interdisciplinary volume illuminates housing's impact on both wealth and community, and examines legal and policy responses to current challenges. Also available as Open Access.

This introductory chapter to the edited volume "Evidence and Innovation in Housing Law and Policy" emphasizes housing's dual role as a vehicle for building community and as a vehicle for building wealth. The volume examines the impact of housing law and policy on households, neighborhoods, urban landscapes, and financial markets. We briefly introduce each of the thirteen contributions to this interdisciplinary volume, which address topics ranging from the recent financial crisis to discrimination and gentrification. We also include an open access table of contents.

No area of law and policy is more central to our well-being than housing, yet research on the topic is too often produced in disciplinary or methodological silos that fail to connect to policy on the ground. This pathbreaking book, which features leading scholars from a range of academic fields, cuts across disciplines to forge new connections in the discourse. In accessible prose filled with cutting-edge ideas, these scholars address topics ranging from the recent financial crisis to discrimination and gentrification and show how housing law and policy impacts household wealth, financial markets, urban landscapes, and local communities. Together, they harness evidence and theory to capture the 'state of play' in housing, generating insights that will be relevant to academics and policymakers alike. This title is also available as Open Access.

"An innovative and timely guide to housing law that integrates the disciplines of law and public policy so that readers see how the subject fits together - both the letter of the law and the way it is practised. The innovative three-part structure covers all the topics of a typical Housing Law module and it is written in a clear and conversational style, with a wide range of source material to show how the law is created, interpreted and used in real life. Students are expertly guided through the complexities of housing law by a leading academic who has taught the subject for more than 20 years. Where relevant, chapters end with a section on 'the future' that discusses proposed changes to the law and the impact of those changes. It also discusses the conceptual issues raised by the Human Rights Act"--

An innovative and timely guide to housing law that integrates the disciplines of law and public policy so that readers see how the subject fits together - both the letter of the law and the way it is practised. The innovative 3-part structure covers all the topics of a typical Housing Law module and it is written in a clear and conversational style, with a wide range of source material to show how the law is created, interpreted and used in real life. Students are expertly guided through the complexities of housing law by a leading academic who has taught the subject for more than 20 years. Where relevant, chapters end with a section on 'the future' that discusses proposed changes to the law and the impact of those changes. It also discusses the conceptual issues raised by the Human Rights Act.

This comprehensive Handbook presents thoughtful analysis on how regulations can impact innovation within a number of regulatory fields and markets, and provides a greater understanding of regulatory complexity and the challenging task it presents for future research.

The globalization of housing finance led to the global financial crisis, which has created new barriers to adequate and affordable housing. It presents major challenges for current housing law and policy, as well as for the development of housing rights. This book examines and discusses key contemporary housing issues in the context of today’s globalized housing systems. The book takes up the challenge of developing a new paradigm, working towards the possibility of an alternative future. Revolving around three constellations of writing by diverse contributors, each chapter sets out a clear and developed approach to contemporary housing issues. The first major theme considers the crisis in mortgage market regulation, the development of mortgage securitization and comparisons between Spain and Ireland, two countries at the epicentre of the global housing market crisis. The second thematic consideration focuses on housing rights within the European human rights architecture, within national constitutions, and those arising from new international instruments, with their particular relevance for persons with disabilities and developing economies. The third theme incorporates an examination of responses to the decline and regeneration of inner cities, legal issues around squatting in developed economies, and changes in tenure patterns away from home-ownership. This topical book will be valuable to those who are interested in law, housing rights and human rights, policy-making and globalization.

Just as investors want the companies they hold equity in to do well, homeowners have a financial interest in the success of their communities. If neighborhood schools are good, if property taxes and crime rates are low, then the value of the homeowner’s principal asset—his home—will rise. Thus, as William Fischel shows, homeowners become watchful citizens of local government, not merely to improve their quality of life, but also to counteract the risk to their largest asset, a risk that cannot be diversified. Meanwhile, their vigilance promotes a municipal governance that provides services more efficiently than do the state or national government. Fischel has coined the portmanteau word “homevoter” to crystallize the connection between homeownership and political involvement. The link neatly explains several vexing puzzles, such as why displacement of local taxation by state funds reduces school quality and why local governments are more likely to be efficient providers of environmental amenities. The Homevoter Hypothesis thereby makes a strong case for decentralization of the fiscal and regulatory functions of government.

In every major city in the world there is a housing crisis. How did this happen and what can we do about it? Everyone needs and deserves housing. But today our homes are being transformed into commodities, making the inequalities of the city ever more acute. Profit has become more important than social need. The poor are forced to pay more for worse housing. Communities are faced with the violence of displacement and gentrification. And the benefits of decent housing are only available for those who can afford it. In Defense of Housing is the definitive statement on this crisis from leading urban planner Peter Marcuse and sociologist David Madden. They look at the causes and consequences of the housing problem and detail the need for progressive alternatives. The housing crisis cannot be solved by minor policy shifts, they argue. Rather, the housing crisis has deep political and economic roots—and therefore requires a radical response.