Life Together: How Housing Laws Define America's Families

23 Pages Posted: 14 Nov 2011

Date Written: 2005

Abstract

Housing restrictions, in the form of restrictive covenants, housing and building codes, and zoning regulations, have subtly helped to define our conception of what constitutes a family. Local ordinances have controlled and curtailed the type of dwellings that qualify as family homes, substituting relationship requirements for requirements of purpose or function. This article argues that moral judgments are the driving force behind some housing restrictions, and that such restrictions actually undermine the notion of family in our neighborhoods.

Keywords: Real estate finance, foreclosure, property abandoned, vacant, zoning, regulation, covenant, family restriction ordinance

Suggested Citation

Alexander, Frank S., Life Together: How Housing Laws Define America's Families (2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1936024 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1936024

Frank S. Alexander (Contact Author)

Emory Law ( email )

1301 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30322
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
77
Abstract Views
792
Rank
563,377
PlumX Metrics