Showing papers in "Fordham Urban Law Journal in 1991"

Eviction Free Zones: The Economics of Legal Bricolage in the Fight Against Displacement

Abstract: Gentrification, the influx of high-income dwellers into low-income neighborhoods, has in the past decade become a serious cause of concern to low-income tenants in older American cities. Although gentrification has had some positive effects, one important negative effect has been the displacement of existing neighborhood residents. Various schemes have been suggested to combat displacement caused by gentrification. One strategy entails seeking legislative relief in the form of rent control and condominium-conversion laws to directly curb the influx of high-income residents; another makes use of rent vouchers and public housing to ameliorate the effects of displacement. This Article analyzes an alternative strategy: the use of Eviction Free Zones (EFZs) to prevent the displacement of low-income tenants in gentrifying neighborhoods. In contrast to strategies that rely on legislative intervention, the EFZ strategy can be applied directly in the neighborhood, by local community groups and legal services lawyers, through enforcement of the implied warranty of habitability (IWH) and other legal remedies already available to tenants. To create an EFZ, local community groups and legal services lawyers target a neighborhood on the verge of gentrification, and work with tenants to prevent or delay evictions. Their goal is to make eviction a difficult and expensive process for landlords, slow gentrification, and ultimately block displacement. In the long run, the EFZ strategy may benefit poor tenants by maintaining both the quantity and affordability of existing low-income housing. Part I of this Article discusses gentrification and the social problems associated with it. Part II describes the mechanics of the EFZ strategy: the legal tools for preventing evictions, how they are used, and by whom. Part III analyzes, through the use of an economic model, the potential long-run economic impact of the EFZ strategy and discusses, in terms of this model, when and how an EFZ should be put into effect. The Article concludes that Eviction Free Zones can, under certain circumstances, be an effective strategy for community activists and legal services lawyers to combat the destructive effects of

Tax Increment Financing: A Potential Redevelopment Financing Mechanism for New York Municipalities

Abstract: This Article analyzes the New York Tax Increment Financing (TIF) law and its suitability as a locally administered redevelopment financing mechanism. This Article will explore the concept of tax increment financing, and examine the New York TIF law in terms of planning and implementation requirements for municipalities which choose to initiate recdevellopment projects using the statute.

Securities Funding of Long-Term Care: A Step Toward A Private Sector Solution

Abstract: This Article proposes a new system of fudning long-term care that contemplates the issuing of securities. This mechanism is designed to supplement or supplant private insurance and to enable the private sector to play a more significant role. This Article considers the current funding alternatives for nursing home care, and specifically explores the types of facilities already in existence to serve the elderly in need of nursing home services. This article proceeds to explore the concept of a health care consortium, and discusses the various legal implications of the plan.

HUD and Housing in the 1990s: Crises in Affordability and Accountability

Abstract: “Half a century ago, in the Housing Act of 1949, Congress declared optimistically that every American should have access to safe, decent, affordable housing.3 In an effort to realize that ambitious objective, federal lawmakers have devised and bureaucrats have implemented a wide array of housing schemes. One commentator has provided nine categories for what he deems the ‘bewildering variety of housing-related programs:’ 1. a federally regulated mortgage finance system; 2. mortgage insurance; 3. interest rate subsidies to home owners, developers, and landlords; 4. tax deductions for mortgage interest; 5. special depreciation allowances for rental housing; 6. low-rent public housing; 7. rent supplements for low-income households; 8. subsidy packages for central city redevelopment; and 9. anti-discrimination measures. To this list, we can add urban homesteading, Nehemiah Housing Opportunity Grants, housing vouchers, Housing Development Grants, and other recent variations on the affordable housing theme. While observers of federal housing initiatives may disagree strongly about the wisdom and efficacy of one or more of these varied approaches, the fact remains that the goal of decent housing for all has not yet been reached. Nor, in the light of recent revelations, investigations and admissions, can we accurately state that the federal officials responsible for overseeing and administering the means for achieving that goal have performed at acceptable levels of competence and responsibility. This article highlights two acute crises that face the nation as we seek to renew our national commitment to decent housing: the widening gap between housing costs and household income, and the recent scandal over federal housing programs that has embroiled (and threatens the future effectiveness of) the federal government’s lead agency in this crucial area—the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD, H.U.D. or Department). The author’s purpose is straightforward: only after appreciating the breadth of these two formidable challenges can we proceed to shape and effectively implement a federal housing agenda for the 1990s—the goal of liberals and conservatives alike in the legislative and executive branches. It makes little sense to proceed with active implementation and full funding of an ambitious National Affordable Housing Act—particularly the new Home Investment Partnership, National Homeownership Trust Fund, and Homeownership ∗Professor of Law, University of Richmond. This is an updated and expanded version of an article co-authored by Mr. Wolf. See Sharp & Wolf, The Housing Crises: Shortfalls in Affordability and Accountability, 44 CONSUMER FIN. L. Q. REP. 225 (1990). The author thanks Jeffrey F. Sharp for his important contributions to Part II of the original version of this article, Karla Palmer for her diligent research assistance, and John Paul Jones and Betty Morganstern Wolf for helping to sharpen some of the arguments as they appeared in earlier drafts. and Opportunity for People Everywhere (HOPE) initiatives—before we address and redress the shortfalls and failures of the recent past.”

Felony Murder and Child Abuse: A Proposal for the New York Legislature

Abstract: ”Lisa Steinberg’s head was hit so hard her injuries matched those of a person who had fallen out of a three-story window. Over the course of three months, investigators believed that Jessica Cortez was beaten numerous times with fists, a ruler, and a belt by her mother’s companion who, in addition, sexually abused her. Lisa and Jessica are only two of the many New York City children who have died as a result of child abuse in recent years; at least 126 other children died at the hands of abusive adults in 1988 alone. This alarming and ever increasing statistic demonstrates the significant need for the criminal justice system to protect children from abuse. In the past decade, the annually reported instances of child maltreatment increased dramatically, from 669,000 in 1976 to over 1.9 million in 1985. There is a growing public sentiment, largely triggered by the highly-publicized, tragic deaths of six-year-old Lisa and five-year-old Jessica, that the criminal laws ought to punish more severely those who commit such heinous crimes.” “Crimes involving child abuse are contained in New York Penal Law section 260.10(1), which declares a person guilty of ‘endangering the welfare of a child’ when ‘[h]e knowingly acts in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a male child less than sixteen years old or a female child less than seventeen years old ...’ This offense, a class A misdemeanor, encompasses a wide range of conduct, including negligence, neglect, malnutrition, dehydration, physical torture, and a pattern of abuse. Because the offense includes active as well as passive activity, and violent as well as non-violent activity, inclusion of it in the felony murder statute may, in some cases, impute too much liability. New York should thus follow the lead of other jurisdictions, which have distinguished different types of child abuse by specifying some as felonies and others as misdemeanors. This Note urges that the New York legislature adopt an ‘aggravated child abuse’ statute, and proposes an amendment to the current felony murder statute to include the crime of ’aggravated child abuse’ as an underlying felony to support a felony murder charge. Part II discusses the felony murder rationale and examines its limitations. Part III articulates a new aggravated child abuse statute that should serve as an underlying felony for felony murder in New York. Finally, the Note concludes with legislative recommendations which would make easier the prosecution and conviction of child abusers as well as severely punish child abusers under the proposed statutory amendments.”

The Legality of Staten Island's Attempt to Secede from New York City

Abstract: This Note argues that, according to judicial interpretations of state and federal constitutions, Staten Island should be allowed to secede from New York City, regardless of the City’s position. This Note begins by analyzing the background history of Staten Island’s secession and New York City’s formation leading up to this case. This Note then analyzes the issue of equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I Section 11 of the New York Constitution. This Note then discusses the Home Rule Doctrine of the New York State Constitution. This Note concludes that, based upon federal and state case law, Staten Island can legally secede from New York City as long as the State Legislature supports the secession.

A Piece in the Puzzle of Providing Adequate Housing: Court Effectiveness in Code Enforcement

Abstract: This article provides an overview of the general characteristics of the City of Syracuse, and the efforts of the City to improve housing and its code enforcement system. This overview is designed to relate the Syracuse model to other urban areas that face similar housing problems and share many of the City’s demographic attributes. This article proceeds to set out the research methodology and findings of an empirical study of Syracuse’s court system. Finally, this article addresses the problems in measuring court effectiveness in code enforcement. This article emphasizes the limits on a court in effecting social changes and suggests that court effectiveness should be judged by assessing case processing, case outcome and the role of the court in a larger governmental plan.