The Legal Guide To Affordable Housing Development

"This book attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of affordable housing laws"--

This book covers the most important areas of law applicable to affordable housing development and provides a comprehensive overview of affordable housing laws.

The Legal Guide to Affordable Housing Development is a clearly written, practical resource for attorneys representing local governments (municipalities, counties, housing authorities, and redevelopment agencies), housing developers (both for-profit and nonprofit), investors, financial institutions, and populations eligible for housing.

Praise for Developing Affordable Housing A Practical Guide for Nonprofit Organizations Third Edition "Ben Hecht's book explains in clear language everything needed to successfully engage in nonprofit housing development. He tells how to find the money, how to generate good design and quality construction, and how to improve management--a complete, well-researched, and well-presented 'A to Z' approach." --Henry G. Cisneros, former secretary U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development "Ben Hecht's book makes the affordable housing development process accessible for communities and practitioners everywhere. Developing Affordable Housing should be on the bookshelf of every organization that cares about people and wants to make affordable housing possible." --Rey Ramsey, former chairman, Habitat for Humanity CEO, One Economy Corporation "The development of affordable housing is as much a journey as a destination. Ben Hecht's book provides maps and bridges while not losing sight of the challenging but elusive goal of providing decent, safe, and affordable housing." --Nicolas P. Retsinas, Director, Joint Center for Housing Studies Harvard University "In our work to increase the supply of safe, decent homes for those who need homes the most, we appreciate the power of partnerships and the value of information. So does Ben Hecht. Developing Affordable Housing is more than a practical guide for nonprofits--it's a library, a trusted advisor, and a road map. Read this book and benefit from its wisdom." --Stacey D. Stewart, President and CEO, Fannie Mae Foundation

Impact fees are one-time charges that are applied to new residential developments by local governments that are seeking funds to pay for the construction or expansion of public facilities, such as water and sewer systems, schools, libraries, and parks and recreation facilities. In the face of taxpayer revolts against increases in property taxes, impact fees are used increasingly by local governments throughout the U.S. to finance construction or improvement of their infrastructure. Recent estimates suggest that 60 percent of all American cities with over 25,000 residents use some form of impact fees. In California, it is estimated that 90 percent of such cities impose impact fees. For more than thirty years, impact fees have been calculated based on proportionate share of the cost of the infrastructure improvements that are to be funded by the fees. However, neither laws nor courts have ensured that fees charged to new homes are themselves proportionate. For example, the impact fee may be the same for every home in a new development, even when homes vary widely in size and selling price. Data show, however, that smaller and less costly homes have fewer people living in them and thus less impact on facilities than larger homes. This use of a flat impact fee for all residential units disproportionately affects lower-income residents. The purpose of this guidebook is to help practitioners design impact fees that are equitable. It demonstrates exactly how a fair impact fee program can be designed and implemented. In addition, it includes information on the history of impact fees, discusses alternatives to impact fees, and summarizes state legislation that can infl uence the design of local fee programs. Case studies provide useful illustrations of successful programs. This book should be the first place that planning professionals, public officials, land use lawyers, developers, homebuilders, and citizen activists turn for help in crafting (or recrafting) proportionate-share impact fee programs.

With distressing statistics about rising cost burdens, increasing foreclosure rates, rising unemployment, falling wages, and widespread homelessness, building affordable housing is one of our most pressing social policy problems. Affordable Housing and Public-Private Partnerships focuses attention on this critical need, as leading experts on affordable housing law and policy come together to address key issues of concern and to suggest appropriate responses for future action. Focusing in particular on how best to understand and implement the joint work of public and private actors in housing, this book considers the real estate aspects of affordable housing law and policy, access to housing, housing finance and affordability, land use, housing regulation and housing issues in a post-Katrina context. Filling a critical gap in the scholarly literature available, this book will be of particular interest to policy-makers, academics, lawyers and students of housing, land use, real estate, property, community development and urban planning

Written by pioneering attorneys in the emerging fields of urbanism and green building, A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects offers you practical solutions for legal issues you may face in planning, zoning, developing, and operating such communities. Find information on legal issues related to urban form, legal mechanisms and ways to incorporate good urban design into local land regulation, overcoming impediments to sound urban design practice, and state and Federal issues related to the legal issues of urban design and planning.

One of the quintessential goals of the American Dream is to own land and a home, a place to raise one’s family and prove one’s prosperity. Particularly for immigrant families, home ownership is a way to assimilate into American culture and community. However, Latinos, who make up the country’s largest minority population, have largely been unable to gain this level of inclusion. Instead, they are forced to cling to the fringes of property rights and ownership through overcrowded rentals, transitory living arrangements, and, at best, home acquisitions through subprime lenders. In Tierra y Libertad, Steven W. Bender traces the history of Latinos’ struggle for adequate housing opportunities, from the nineteenth century to today’s anti-immigrant policies and national mortgage crisis. Spanning southwest to northeast, rural to urban, Bender analyzes the legal hurdles that prevent better housing opportunities and offers ways to approach sweeping legal reform. Tierra y Libertad combines historical, cultural, legal, and personal perspectives to document the Latino community’s ongoing struggle to make America home.