Fair Housing

Catalog description

The goals of this course are (1) to provide students with a conceptual framework for understanding the different forms that housing discrimination can take and how such discrimination affects our society, and (2) equip students with practical tools for analyzing and litigating fair housing cases. The course will focus primarily on the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, and the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. We will examine the Fair Housing Act, its legislative history, early case law, and the development of the basic doctrine. We will progress to the "modern" era of fair housing law, after the Fair Housing Amendments Act added disability and familial status as protected classes. We will explore the ways in which the concept of what constitutes "housing discrimination" has expanded, and how the law has developed accordingly. For example, we will discuss sexual harassment in housing, and the requirements that new multifamily housing be built so that it is accessible to persons with disabilities. In addition, the course will cover more systematic ways in which housing discrimination can manifest itself, such as through municipal land use and zoning decisions, and the mortgage lending practices of financial institutions (including discriminatory refusals to lend, relining, and predatory lending). In addition to these doctrinal issues, the course will cover the private and public enforcement mechanisms of the Act; theories of liability (including disparate treatment, disparate impact, and failure to reasonably accommodate); damages; and issues of proof (including the uses of statistical and testing evidence). Credit Hour : 1-3