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I. INTRODUCTION In March 2013, the Department of Treasury mandated that all Social Security benefits be transmitted electronically. (1) Prior to the switch, about 1.5 million recipients, or seventeen percent [...]

This Article critically explores the notion of legal empowerment and adds to the existing efforts to conceptualize and measure legal empowerment. Our thesis is that legal empowerment should be sought not in the process of providing legal solutions but in the subjective self-belief that a person possesses. This belief concerns an individual's perception of his ability to mobilize the necessary resources, competencies, and energies to solve particular problems of a legal nature. This model rejects the existence of an overall quantity of legal empowerment. People's beliefs in their abilities to solve legal problems differ by type of problem, distribution of power in important relationships, social support infrastructure, language, and many other factors. We propose a measurement framework in which the model of task-specific subjective legal empowerment is estimated through a probabilistic assessment of perceived capabilities to sort out problems from everyday life, which normally could be resolved with legal means. Validity of the tool is assessed through application to convenience samples of beneficiaries of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) providing legal aid to vulnerable people in Azerbaijan, Mali, Rwanda, Egypt, and Bangladesh. The results suggest that subjective legal empowerment is an observable and measurable psychological state. The major policy implication from this proposed model of subjective legal empowerment is that it could be used as a measurable benchmark for assessing the impact of diverse legal interventions on the subjective legal empowerment of individuals and social groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing has become increasingly unaffordable, especially in cities like Washington, D.C. Wage growth has not kept up, meaning that more households must spend a larger portion of their income to keep a roof over their heads. Government programs addressing affordable housing are innumerous, yet many individuals still face housing costs that are too high. At the same time, cities are plagued by thousands of vacant properties. Moving vacant properties back onto the residential market could help increase the housing stock and alleviate pressure on housing costs. However, to truly address the affordable housing crisis, vacant properties put back to productive use should be affordable in perpetuity. One type of entity, a community land trust (CLT), can facilitate that very thing. This paper explores the housing affordability crisis and the vacant property landscape in D.C. It then describes the CLT model, focusing particularly on a relatively new community land trust in D.C., the Douglass Community Land Trust. Finally, this paper urges the D.C. Council to pass legislation supporting CLTs in D.C. and includes recommended policy provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper serves as an indictment of contemporary credit monitoring, reporting, and scoring, which is the lifeblood of the debt-based extractive economy and ultimately, the prison-industrial complex. Grounded in history, this paper demonstrates that credit surveillance and debt police the economic participation and physical bodies of Black people, Indigenous people, and immigrants. Credit reporting's protection of capitalism, the economic backbone of settler-colonialism, is at the heart of government mass surveillance programs, which through lucrative private-public partnerships facilitate wealth accumulation predicated on the banishment of Black people, Indigenous people, and immigrants. For this reason, abolishing the prison-industrial complex requires the abolition of credit surveillance and survival debt. Racial justice requires social provisioning to push back against systems of policing rather than increase access to credit systems that entrench surveillance. From this perspective, this paper urges a shift beyond access-to-credit reform to the solidarity economy and community-controlled finance grounded in an abolitionist ethic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising cost of rent in many urban areas has forced low-income tenants to live in substandard housing. This substandard housing is connected with numerous health issues like asthma and cardiovascular disease. While more robust housing code enforcement might help alleviate this problem, many cities' housing code enforcement agencies are too understaffed and lack the organizational structure to effectively enforce their codes. In addition to discussing the impact that increased funding and better leadership can have, this paper proposes a new method of enforcement where regulators draw from different disciplines to proactively assess and remedy housing conditions across urban areas. In particular, this paper focuses on the use of medical-legal partnerships to identify substandard housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reformers often argue that the benefits of ameliorating inequality are worth the cost in higher tax rates and reduced economic efficiency that redistributive social policy supposedly requires. This paper suggests that these arguments are mostly misplaced. Focusing solely on the marginal benefit of government-versus private-sector spending, there is ample reason to conclude that many governmental expenditures directed to reducing inequality are independently justifiable on the basis that they increase efficiency and, over time, more than pay for themselves. Because the efficiency argument directly addresses concerns that might otherwise counsel restraint in redistributive programs, treating the reduction of inequality as a worthwhile tradeoff against efficiency or higher tax rates is mostly counterproductive from a social policy perspective. In fact, the failure to adopt or enhance many spending programs itself represents a form of upward redistribution as measured from a baseline of social wealth maximization. This redistribution is difficult or impossible to justify from either a welfarist perspective or a libertarian one. In making the argument, this paper develops the concept of budget policy endogeneity," or the idea that in judging the affordability of various programs one must take into account the allocative and distributional effects of current spending on the future allocation of resources, since revenue for current projects may be raised in the future. If current spending enhances allocative efficiency, programs that can only be funded with borrowing today create the conditions for their relatively less burdensome repayment tomorrow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women nonlawyers were some of the first actors to provide organized legal aid to America's poor. Yet, today, unauthorized practice of law statutes bar nonlawyers from providing legal help, citing concerns about malpractice and public harm. This Article uses a historical case study to challenge conceptions that nonlawyers cannot provide effective legal services to the people. The study focuses on the development of legal aid in Boston via two organizations, the nonlawyer-led Women's Educational and Industrial Union and the lawyer-centric Boston Legal Aid Society. Although organized legal aid in Boston began with the nonlawyers at the Union, they were eventually overtaken by the lawyer-centric Legal Aid Society. This paper examines this transition in legal aid practitioners, emphasizing how nonlawyers provided effective legal help. In doing so, it challenges the modern-day conception that access to justice requires access to an attorney and serves as a powerful counter to claims that nonlawyer practitioners endanger the public., I. INTRODUCTION 123 A. Methodology 125 1. Theoretical Framing 126 B. Paper Structure 128 II. CREATING A NONLAWYERS' PROTECTIVE DEPARTMENT 128 A. Origins of the Union and its Protective Department [...]

It's recognized that people affected by poverty often have numerous overlapping legal needs and despite the proliferation of legal services, they are unable to receive full assistance. When a person is faced with a legal emergency, rarely is there an equivalent to a hospital's emergency room wherein they receive an immediate diagnosis for their needs and subsequent assistance. In this paper, I focus on the process a person goes through to find assistance and argue that it is a burdensome, and demoralizing task of navigating varying protocols, procedures, and individuals. While these systems are well intentioned from the lawyer's perspective, they have unintended consequences for the client. These consequences are especially significant when viewed through our poverty law goal of empowering clients. I argue that the process to find an attorney is unintentionally riddled with invisible barriers that more closely resemble red-tape bureaucracy than the client empowerment that poverty law desires. I highlight four flaws in how legal service intakes are implemented. First, legal services organizations are a complicated web of varying agencies and providers making it challenging for a client to find the right office for their needs. Second, conflict rules, while intended to preserve zealous advocacy, often inhibit a client from finding counsel. Third, in legal services there is little transparency around why or if a case is likely to be accepted, leaving a client confused and frustrated. Fourth, a low-income client has no choice in who actually represents them unlike a client with means who can seek out a specific attorney. I examine the consequences of these flaws in the context of client empowerment. I argue that the combination of these barriers in one process actually disempower clients and prevent them from accessing the services they need. Finally, I highlight one solution: a collaborative intake and triage model that was piloted in Washington, D.C. to service crime victims. I explore how this model addresses some of these barriers and how it may be a blueprint for muchneeded legal services delivery reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given growing awareness of and actions to address food insecurity challenges in higher education, this paper is a response to the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy 2022 Symposium call to examine universities as producers, managers, and opponents of poverty. Bringing together the unique perspectives of a faculty scholar and two recent undergraduates who worked on the frontlines to end hunger on campus, we argue that student-led food pantries are a critical way in which universities manage poverty on campus, but they are unable to oppose or eliminate food insecurity alone. As such, we examine the strengths and challenges of a student-led campus food pantry model, providing insights into best practices and models for university engagement. We conclude with a call for universities and policymakers to match students' actions for a better tomorrow where experiences of hunger and food insecurity no longer impede students' educational goals, so that we can go from merely managing poverty to opposing it, once and for all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Washington, D.C. has experienced major demographic shifts in the past few decades as white, upwardly mobile individuals increasingly moved into the city. These changes have simultaneously resulted in high levels of displacement for older residents in gentrifying neighborhoods. In response to the displacement of lower income, predominantly Black residents, the D.C. government has implemented an inclusionary zoning (IZ) policy. D.C.'s inclusionary zoning policy requires developers to allocate the greater of 8-10% of total square footage or 50-70% of the bonus density for affordable housing. Inclusionary zoning is a step in the right direction but fails to play a more expansive and effective role in affordable housing production. In particular, the policy currently ignores the realities of D.C.'s income, racial, and geographic segregation. This paper argues that inclusionary zoning laws in D.C. should take a graduated, ward-specific approach for delineating median family income qualifications and percentage setaside requirements, with a focus on increasing the affordability of IZ units for the lowest income individuals, the number of affordable housing units created, and the level of integration in these communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consider three periods. The 'long' period of human life before 1870, the 'short' century of 1870 to 1950, and the most recent half century or so, a cascading from leisurely change to hurried, momentous upgrades in the human condition. Key events in health, urbanization, and productivity growth arguably demonstrate the advantages of propinquity, i.e., proximity and nearness, one to another, that can facilitate exchange of ideas and trade in goods and services. Events in the second half of the nineteenth century, especially the discovery and diffusion of the germ theory of disease, made propinquity far more attractive as Europe and its overseas extensions overcame the former urban mortality penalty derived from the spread of infectious and communicable diseases (ICDs). Once the stage was cleared of dysentery, cholera, typhoid and other city-based illnesses, the growth of cities could in turn encourage technological advances previously out of reach to mainly rural societies. A key to better health and urbanization is and remains the timely expansion of the water-and-waste infrastructure needed to defeat ICDs in cities. The successful construction of this infrastructure in the main cities of Europe and the areas of overseas expansion depended on recognition that better health infrastructure, extended to all urban residents, is a public good that must be purchased with public resources, rather than wholly by private action. The advantages of propinquity only accrue when barriers to good health are broken by efficient public services that extend to rich and poor alike. For two billion or more poor people in low- and middle-income countries, the task of combining better health with urbanization and productivity improvement is a key task that lies ahead. This paper explores linkages between better health, urbanization and rising productivity in the past century and a half. It suggests that removing the 'penalty' of high urban mortality made urban living feasible. Before 1870, the lack of understanding of disease and its transmission created barriers to better urban health and blocked progress in city growth. In rich countries since 1870, living in cities has led to greater productivity and higher levels of income. A next step is to extend gains achieved in Europe and its overseas extensions to poor regions of the world. Improving health merits high priority. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the research papers addressing the eradication of poverty published within the issue.

Experts on criminal recidivism are in consensus that housing instability is a risk factor for reoffending. Academic studies and common sense find that justice-involved individuals are more likely to suffer from financial stressors that would allow them to qualify for and need public housing assistance. To curb the cyclical nature of recidivism and housing instability, local and federal governments should promote policies that support housing for criminal offenders. DCHA, and more broadly, HUD, have public housing admission policies that are inconsistent with best practices described by scholars and thus should be updated to foster reintegration of offenders, divert people from the criminal legal system, and create a safer community for all. Current DCHA policies include strict rules proscribing admission to sex offenders and those with a history of illegal drug use, with the goal of promoting a safe environment for residents. This Note argues that by creating admissions policies that are more inclusive of sex and drug offenses, DCHA could participate in disrupting the cyclical nature of housing instability and the criminal legal system and better promote public safety for all District of Columbia residents., I. INTRODUCTION 466 II. HOUSING INSTABILITY AND RECIDIVISM IN GENERAL ACROSS ALL OFFENSES 468 III. DCHA's SEXUAL OFFENSE POLICIES ARE INCONGRUENT WITH THE NATURE OF SEX OFFENSES AND 469 SEX [...]

American work-law jurisprudence reflects a tension between the legal conceptions of positive and negative liberty. Which of these conceptions predominates has varied across historical periods, with judicial support for negative liberties reaching its apex during the Lochner era and waning during the New Deal. The Supreme Court has recently decided two lines of cases concerning the Federal Arbitration Act and the National Labor Relations Act that indicate that judicial opinion is swinging back in favor of strong negative liberties at the expense of congressionally enshrined positive liberties. This shift appears to be grounded in an understanding of the Constitution that favors absolute negative liberty, even where it conflicts with democratically selected positive liberties. This understanding of the Constitution is out of step with how the Framers understood the constitutional balance between negative and positive liberties. Subsequent Amendments have only further strengthened constitutional protections for positive liberties. Not only is the shift back towards a negative-liberty view of the Constitution anachronistic, it threatens the wellbeing of workers in the United States. Statutorily protected positive liberties reinforce worker's ability to vote, build wealth, and hold their employers accountable. Without these protections, the legal and economic landscape is likely to return to that which existed during the Gilded Age, not that which the Framers envisioned., I. INTRODUCTION 394 II. THE HISTORY OF LIBERTY IN 397 FREE AMERICAN WORK LAW A. Pre-Industrial Era 398 1. The English Implied Term of One-Year 398 2. Forming a Union [...]

This Note gives an overview of Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, commonly known as HUD Section 3. Section 3 requires that local governments that receive federal housing funds ensure the jobs and contracts the funds create go to residents of low-income areas. I first discuss HUD Section 3 's contents and legislative history, finding an ambitious mandate to train and contract with residents of low-income areas. Next, I describe HUD's long struggle to monitor and enforce that mandate and low-income residents' efforts to self-organize and claim their mandated benefits. Finding little federal enforcement, this Note studies Section 3 compliance and related local hiring laws in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia's policies, maintained by the City of Philadelphia and the independent Philadelphia Housing Authority, are ambitious but underdeveloped. To find opportunities to improve them, the Note analyzes various cities' public works local hiring policies and assesses best practices for achieving Section 3 's goals. Finally, the Note argues Philadelphia's agencies have the potential to effectively coordinate a nation-leading Section 3 policy by setting realistic goals and collaborating with each other and with unions., I. INTRODUCTION 448 II. SECTION 3'S HIRING AND CONTRACTING COMMITMENTS 450 A. Section 3 's Contents and Definitions 450 B. The Roots of the Problem: Contracting Requirements, Compliance, and Enforcement [...]

Affordable housing in the United States faces several challenges including a lack of supply and a lack of quality housing for many tenants. This means that, for lowest-income housing seekers, many are left without affordable options or in inadequate housing. This housing can be unsafe and detrimental to the health and development of residents. While this crisis can be seen nationwide, this Note will focus on the affordable housing offered by the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA). The Department of Housing and Urban Development has conducted an audit of DCHA that identified major problems that must be remedied. This Note will detail the major issues with DCHA and offer a number of potential actions that could improve the operation of DCHA and the properties they manage., I. THE HISTORY AND MOTIVATIONS OF LOCAL HOUSING AUTHORITIES AND DCHA'S OBJECTIVE 340 A. The Motivation and Purpose of Local Housing Authorities 340 B. The Responsibilities of the District of [...]

The Supreme Court's expansion of the public use doctrine authorizes takings for economic development and permits the transfer of private property from individuals to private developers. Because the judiciary defers to the legislature on determinations of public use, courts fail to intervene even when individuals are displaced to enable highly speculative or infeasible urban development projects. To prevent the needless displacement of individuals, courts should employ a four-factor feasibility assessment before permitting the use of eminent domain for economic development projects, and the legislature should grant a right of first refusal to prior owners and require community approval prior to permitting local governments to exercise eminent domain. This Note explores the significant harm that results from failed urban development projects and suggests three key responses for the judiciary and the legislature. First, the Note provides a brief overview of the expansion of the public use requirement of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Second, the Note presents case studies of 12 cases across ten states that demonstrate the pervasiveness and severity of the problem and provides an in-depth examination of two communities, New London and Poletown. Finally, the Note examines potential accountability mechanisms the legal system should leverage to shift the burden of failed urban development projects from individuals and communities to developers., I. INTRODUCTION 276 II. BACKGROUND 278 III. THE STATE OF THE PUBLIC USE REQUIREMENT IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TAKINGS 278 IV THE SCOPE OF EMINENT DOMAIN IN FAILED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS [...]

Payday loans entangle consumers with few alternatives in catastrophically harmful cycles of borrowing. But because of their design, payday loans are vexingly difficult to regulate effectively This article explains how the structure of regulatory oversight of payday lending abets lenders'evasion. In it, I focus on how dynamism, the financial sector's ability to quickly evolve, frustrates attempts to regulate payday lending in two ways: first, lenders employ a strategy of regulatory arbitrage to escape exacting state laws. Second, lenders take advantage of product innovation--what I call 'recharacterization to circumvent state regulations by modifying loan attributes. To overcome this dynamism, I argue regulators should consider an experimentalist approach to regulation. A regulatory structure of this kind would have three components: first, regulators must adopt a broad 'ability-to-pay' standard, which centers the borrower's financial wellbeing Second, regulators must find partners embedded in communities to license as lenders. Finally, regulators must conduct a holistic review of borrower financial health after receiving a loan., I. INTRODUCTION 238 II. THE BACKGROUND: PAYDAY LENDING 240 III. POLICING PAYDAY LENDING: A CASE STUDY IN 'WHACK-A-MOLE' REGULATION 243 A. Lessons from High Finance: Dynamism 243 B. Dynamism in [...]

Millions of people today experience housing insecurity and homelessness, a large percentage of whom live without access to a sanctioned shelter site. The predominant response to this housing and homelessness crisis by local governments throughout the country is the enforcement of punitive measures that are ineffective and inhumane. A punitive approach to addressing unsheltered homelessness creates insurmountable barriers to housing and employment, keeping people in a cycle of homelessness that becomes increasingly difficult to overcome. Using law enforcement as the primary tool to address homelessness is not just counterproductive--it is expensive. Multiple studies have demonstrated the significant cost savings by redirecting enforcement dollars toward housing and support services. The web of laws that criminalize homelessness is one of the systemic barriers that prevents unhoused people from transitioning to a more stable situation. This criminalization is part of a long history of exclusionary laws that furthers the oppression of marginalized groups and contributes to higher rates of homelessness. This Article provides a roadmap for practitioners, academics and community activists to compel reform at the local level through a community centered advocacy strategy that redirects local governments away from punitive approaches toward more humane, community-based solutions. The proposed reforms are supported by empirical analysis, lawsuits that have successfully challenged local laws that disproportionately impact the unhoused, as well as ordinances and policies enacted in certain jurisdictions in an effort to decriminalize homelessness. The Article focuses on Eugene, Oregon, a city with one of the highest per capita rates of homelessness in the United States, as its case study. The example of Eugene has broad applicability to jurisdictions throughout the country, demonstrating both the impact on unhoused individuals and the high costs incurred by the city to maintain its current punitive system., I. INTRODUCTION 200 II. NATIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT 206 III. LOCAL CONTEXT AND OVERALL APPROACH 210 IV DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH TO LEGAL REFORM 213 A. Scope of the Problem on Unhoused [...]

A multitude of legal and administrative systems in America combine to regulate low-income people and to create and perpetuate poverty. Despite this, a literature review shows that poverty law scholarship has not analyzed how these systems interlock with each other and considered their cumulative effects on this population. The earliest poverty law scholarship, as exemplified by Stephen Wexler, was concerned with the practice of law on behalf of low-income individuals. The pioneers of the next wave of scholarship, such as Anthony Alfieri and Lucie White, incorporated postmodern theory into their work and applied it to the attorney-client relationship; however, their writing was still largely practice-based. Critiques of this scholarship were likewise concerned with its practice implications, and the next significant body of poverty law scholarship focused on where it should be situated within the academy. The movement which has come closest to this type of analysis is the ClassCrits, whose stated mission is to deconstruct laws in order to reveal the effects of economic and relational class on our legal systems. However, this school has opted not to focus on poverty in particular, and it has not made the leap to praxis. There is thus no body of work which reviews the cumulative effects of multiple laws on low-income individuals in order to inform and assist practice and policy as well as scholarship. In this Article, I trace the history of existing poverty law scholarship and discuss the focus of each successive wave of work by considering how it would view the situation of a hypothetical low-income woman. I then argue that the existing scholarship has not considered the cumulative effects of the multiple systems which interact to regulate people living in poverty and that such an analysis is vital to a true understanding of the numerous mechanisms which act to enforce poverty. This approach, which I call Systems of Poverty, differs significantly from prior poverty law scholarship in that it requires a collaborative approach among scholars; while it is fundamentally an analytic and scholarly approach, it is also grounded firmly in the experience of low-income individuals and the attorneys who serve them and has the potential to marry theory and practice in a way that prior work has not., I.Introduction 2 II.A Case Study 8 III.A Brief History of Poverty Law and Scholarship 14 A.The Beginning of Poverty Law: Community-Based and Practice-Driven 15 B.Poverty Law Redux: Postmodernism Rises, the [...]

COVID-19 caused a perfect storm that showcased the indispensability of childcare to the overall well-being of children, families, and communities while simultaneously illuminating the many gaps and shortcomings rife within the American childcare system. The virus only exacerbated the accessibility and affordability challenges faced by families seeking high-quality childcare. This Note evaluates the necessity of accessible, high-quality childcare and out-of school time options for working moms while considering the pandemic's impact on the care industry. The Note argues that the American Rescue Plan's influx of federal funding to the childcare and out-of-school time industry, while a necessary life-preserver, was not enough to sustain the sort of growth in quality and affordability long overdue. The Note asserts solutions such as making permanent monthly payments to families through the expanded 2021 Child Tax Credit and expanding incentivization structures for large companies to include in their plans how they will provide affordable childcare for their workers. With federal relief money expiring in 2024, now is the time for state and federal legislators to either make portions of the American Rescue Plan permanent or incorporate key ideas from the Plan into existing structures., INTRODUCTION 170 II. WHAT is CHILDCARE and Why is it Important? 172 A.Overview of the Childcare and Out-of-School Time Industries 172 B.Issues in the Childcare and Out-of-School Time Industry 174 [...]

Access to affordable housing in the United States is a significant and growing challenge, exacerbated by recent economic trends and the COVID-19 pandemic. Issues like supply chain disruptions and rising interest rates have worsened the shortage of affordable housing for both renters and homeowners. This crisis disproportionately affects low-income individuals and communities of color, who were already grappling with housing instability and high housing costs before the pandemic. Structural racism continues to play a role in these disparities. Notably, no state or major metropolitan area has sufficient affordable housing for extremely low-income renters, particularly those from marginalized racial backgrounds. The federal government allocated $350 billion through the American Rescue Plan Act to address economic impacts, and some localities used these funds creatively to increase affordable housing supply. However, some misused the funds, including building correctional facilities, which were later deemed ineligible. The Treasury Department has the authority to investigate and recoup misused funds to redistribute them elsewhere in the nation. This Note analyzes data on fund usage and offers recommendations for federal policymakers to ensure future funding effectively addresses affordable housing needs., I. INTRODUCTION 123 II. BACKGROUND on ARPA and SLFRF Program 124 A. The SLFRF Program Provides Some Funding Directed at Housing Relief 124 B. The SLFRF Program Provides Direct Funding [...]

More than ten million children in the United States live in poverty, largely because of the country's relative lack of investment in children and families. Child poverty is associated with higher rates of child maltreatment and contributes to a host of outcomes that harm children and society. Recent legislation that increased the size and scope of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) demonstrated the power of cash assistance policies to reduce child poverty. However, implementation issues prevented many of the poorest families from receiving benefits, and the CTC expansion expired at the end of 2021. This Note proposes a Universal Child Benefit (UCB) that would provide $700 monthly for children under age six and $400 monthly for children ages six to seventeen. All families would automatically receive the benefit through the Social Security Administration (SSA). The UCB would drastically reduce child poverty and improve child well-being in the U.S., I. INTRODUCTION 590 II. THE HISTORY AND PRESENT UNCERTAINTY OF THE CTC 591 A. A Brief History of the CTC 592 B. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 593 [...]

Eviction sits at the nexus of property rights and the basic human need for shelter--the former benefits from a strong framework of legal protection while the latter does not. In most eviction courts across the country, therefore, the right to housing is unrecognized, while landlords' economic interests in property are consistently vindicated. The public health crisis unleashed by COVID-19 temporarily upended that (im)balance. Emergency federal and state eviction prevention policies issued in response to COVID-19 prioritized public health--and the need for shelter to prevent the spread of disease--over typically dominant property rights. In doing so, they presented courts with an unusual dilemma: how to implement policy directives that run counter to existing legal, historical, and procedural frameworks. While most studies of eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic have explored eviction trends over the period or the impact of these policies, this Article delves more deeply into the question of local implementation--which varied widely across jurisdictions--and asks when and why such policies may not have their full intended impact. Relying on a series of interviews conducted with judges, clerks, and lawyers working in eviction courts, the Article suggests that the phenomenon of discordance can help explain how and when policy implementation is most likely to be effective. Where accordance--functional and norm-based alignment--existed between judges' understanding of the eviction process and COVID-19 policy directives, they were more likely to be proactive and focused on implementation. However, where judges experienced discordance--misalignment between the aims of these directives and those of the underlying legal structure and process--they were more likely to cast themselves as passive and highly restricted in their ability to act outside of the normal order of operations. Although set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings and conclusions set forth in this Article are not unique to that context. The insights presented here regarding the implementation of state and federal policy at the local court level provide critical guidance to policymakers in all areas about the need to consider local dynamics in crafting policy--particularly in times of crisis--and how to structure policies so that local motivations can be used to spur innovation rather than obstruction., I. INTRODUCTION 546 II. EVICTION AND COVID-19: DISPOSSESSION + DISASTER = DISCORDANCE 549 A. Eviction Courts and Law 549 1. Legal Principles 550 2. Legal Process 553 3. Landlord-Tenant Law [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic forced courts across the country to close their doors to in-person proceedings. Courts had to quickly adopt remote technologies that they ignored for years to keep courts operational. As courts have re-opened, courts have maintained hybrid court processes recognizing the benefits that hybrid courts offer for judicial efficiency. However, due to the speed with which courts adopted new hybrid court models they were often developed haphazardly. As they continue to evolve, states have left significant discretion in the design to individual courts and often individual judges, creating inconsistencies in the process. Lawyers and judges have been able to quickly adopt their practices to utilize these new hybrid court systems. Yet, eighty to ninety percent of cases have at least one unrepresented party, often of low-income. Low-income unrepresented litigants make up the lion 's share of individuals utilizing the civil legal system, and they seem to have been left out of the equation as the hybrid court models have been developed. Despite the fact that low-income litigants make up the majority of litigants in the civil justice system, the hybrid courts recently designed have made it more difficult for these unrepresented litigants to access the court system. Hybrid court models have been around since the early 1990s, and models developed just prior to the pandemic focused on increasing access to justice for low-income individuals. Courts need to take a step back and carefully consider how to evolve their hybrid court models using information gathered from the pre-pandemic models, the current models, and the benefits and difficulties that have been realized from these models. Hybrid court models that are consistent, with a well explained process, combined with an option to opt-out of the technological components when they create barriers, as well as accessible locations with the available technology and assistance necessary can assure that low-income litigants are not barred from the 'new ' courthouse doors., I. INTRODUCTION 500 II. EVOLUTION OF VIRTUAL AND HYBRID COURTS 507 A. Hybrid Court Models Pre-COVID-19 508 B. Completely Remote--COVID-19 Courts 512 C. Expansion of Hybrid Courts 515 III. THE [...]

In response to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. federal and state governments enacted various supports for childcare, including expanded funding and flexibility for the childcare market, expanded paid leave, more generous and inclusive unemployment insurance, loans available to childcare providers, and tax rebates. In this Article, we trace the distributional consequences of these interventions, focusing on one community in the Boston metropolitan area. We examine whether these interventions support access to childcare through the state, market, and family, in particular considering the make-up of the community's population, which is largely immigrant and of low socio-economic status. Based on observations about how the COVID-era interventions have shifted patterns of childcare access, we offer reflections on welfare capitalism as an analytical framework when considering the distribution of support for care in a Latinx immigrant community. We conclude with suggested interventions to support the women of color whose undercompensated labor underlies systems of care., I. INTRODUCTION 406 II. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK: THE WELFARE STATE, CHILDCARE, AND SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP 408 A. Childcare Access as an Element of Social Citizenship 408 B. Welfare Capitalism and Social Citizenship [...]

This Article uses archival research to recover the important work of John P. Davis, the Negro Industrial League (NIL), and the Joint Committee on National Recovery (JCNR) as they fought for a racially just New Deal and substantive equality in the Jim Crow era. Specifically, it analyzes the battle between southern industrialists mobilized against Black labor and liberation; John P. Davis and his anti-racist, labor-focused organizations; and the National Recovery Administration (NRA) in the contest over racial exclusions and wage differentials in the codes of fair competition. The Article shows how Davis exposed and challenged the racism and discrimination that shaped New Deal labor and employment law and examines an unexplored archival source to collaborate Davis' original claims. Finally, the Article reveals that Davis not only criticized the New Deal, but championed its promise in the name of democracy and underscored the constitutional necessity of federal intervention to combat oligarchy and racial inequality. It recovers Davis' alternative vision of New Deal reform and considers its significance today., I. INTRODUCTION 439 II. RACE AND RECOVERY 441 A. The Code-Making Process 442 B. Racial Wages 444 III. TAKING ON KING COTTON 446 A. Taking a Seat at the Table [...]

In 1996, prisoners' rights formally fell out of public favor. The Prison Litigation Reform Act ('PLRA ') put a period on the widespread prisoners' rights movement of the 1960s and 70s: it drastically diminished the ability of prisoners to vindicate their rights in courts, the incentives for lawyers to represent prisoners, and the ability of courts to grant structural relief for prisoners' rights violations. The paradigmatic analyses of this statute interrogate the quantity and quality of the pre-PLRA inmate docket and the judiciary s pre-PLRA effectiveness at implementing structural prison reform. However, these accounts of the statute--while descriptively accurate and analytically incisive--are historically incomplete. This Article tells a new story about the PLRA. It links two bodies of history--welfare reform in the late twentieth century and concurrent judicial policymaking in prison systems--and in doing so, repositions the PLRA as a congressional capstone on both projects. By juxtaposing a period of striking judicial reform in prisons with growing sociopolitical skepticism over social services to the poor, this Article illuminates an overlooked continuity between welfare and prison reforms. Recasting the PLRA as a restriction on welfare rights enriches our understanding of the statute and its place in history. It also implicates other conversations: about the relationship between procedure and substantive rights; the historical paradigm shift toward welfare services as moral gatekeeping; the judiciary as a protector of rights; and more substantively, the quality ofprison conditions post-PLRA., INTRODUCTION 242 I. PRISON REFORM 248 II. WELFARE REFORM 258 III. READING THE PLRA 269 AS A WELFARE REFORM A. The PLRA in the 1990s 270 B. The PLRA Today [...]

Community colleges have the potential to be a powerful force to alleviate poverty in the United States. However, the persistent underfunding of community colleges inhibits their ability to meet the aspiration of economic mobility for all students as they serve students who have more significant needs with fewer resources than public or private four-year institutions of higher education. The challenges faced by community colleges mirror the circumstances faced by many K-12 schools in low-income communities and communities of color in the United States where limited school funding has contributed to inequitable access to opportunity and inhibited student outcomes. However, unlike the community college context, decades of litigation and strategic advocacy have contributed to improvements in K-12 school funding. This Note argues that key lessons from the K-12 school funding litigation can be applied to the community college context to both increase funding available to community colleges and improve the funding pipeline so that it better accounts for the unique needs in the community college context. This would be achieved through a dual-pronged strategy. The first prong centers on litigation advancing the argument that states have a constitutional obligation to adequately fund community colleges. The second prong requires political advocacy at the state and federal levels. By taking a multi-pronged approach advancing both litigation and advocacy efforts, those seeking to achieve more adequate community college funding amplify their power and reach. Community colleges have the ability to promote economic mobility and alleviate poverty. Through collective legal and advocacy efforts, this potential can be realized., I. INTRODUCTION 343 II. OVERVIEW OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES & THEIR ROLE IN 344 ECONOMIC MOBILITY A. Who Attends Community Colleges--Demographics of 345 Community College Students B. Community College as a [...]

Minimum wage laws are among the most important laws that impact the livelihood of low-wage workers. Indeed, as Gandhi stated, 'the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.' New York's minimum wage has been capped at $15 for most workers since 2018 because the traditional approach to raising it requires grassroots advocacy to compel legislators to manually raise minimum wage floors. This approach takes a great deal of time, energy, resources, and requires ongoing advocacy. This note proposes that New York should develop a true Cost of Living Index to automatically adjust the minimum wage based on what it realistically costs not just to survive, but to thrive. This note aims to synthesize legal, political, and economic perspectives for the implementation of a true Cost of Living Index. It will hopefully serve as one more voice in the crowd, offering a simple but practical solution to the never-ceasing fight for a minimum wage that respects the basic dignity and humanity of working people., INTRODUCTION 316 I. A BRIEF REVIEW OF INDEXING AND THE MINIMUM WAGE 321 A. Why the Minimum Wage Should be Increased--Inflationary Concerns 321 B. Traditional Strategies for Increasing Minimum Wages [...]

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, imprisoning over two million people. Not only does mass incarceration have great monetary costs for Americans as the United States spends over $250 billion each year on incarceration, but the United States also faces significant social costs as a result of mass incarceration. Mass incarceration significantly drives poverty and hinders social progress by making it more difficult for formerly incarcerated individuals to find employment, vote, or access public benefits while also reducing the support, earning potential, academic success, and stability of spouses and children of incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals. Not only does mass incarceration drive poverty throughout the United States, but poverty itself exasperates mass incarceration as the American criminal justice system criminalizes poverty and punishes people for being poor - by imprisoning people who are unable to pay small fees and fines, who cannot afford bail, who are experiencing homelessness, who cannot afford mental health treatment, or who engage in sex work. Thus, this Note will demonstrate the absolute necessity of de-criminalizing poverty in order to combat mass incarceration in the United States. While there has been extensive research and literature on mass incarceration in the United States, there has been less of an emphasis on the interplay between mass incarceration and poverty. This Note explores this interplay by discussing (1) the driving forces of mass incarceration in the United States, (2) how the criminalization of poverty drives mass incarceration and how the impact of incarceration exacerbates poverty and hunger, and (3) recent trends in recent criminal justice reform. To encourage discourse and action to reduce mass incarceration and poverty in the United States, the Note will then offer several proposals for reform efforts to decriminalize poverty and refute the anticipated critiques of the reforms., INTRODUCTION 288 I. BACKGROUND 290 A. Mass Incarceration 290 B. Drivers of Mass Incarceration 291 1. Over-Policing and Overcriminalization 291 2. Mandatory Minimums and Harsh Sentencing Practices 292 3. Community [...]

Substance use is one of the favorite justifications for the family regulation system to remove children and prevent reunification with their parents, especially if those parents are women, people in poverty, or people of color. This Article reviews decades of scientific research, hundreds of scientific articles, revealing that almost all the assumptions justifying removal and prevention of reunification for alleged substance use are pseudoscientific myths--revealing a system dedicated not to family preservation, but to family punishment. The family regulation system disproportionately targets women, people of color, and people in poverty. In many instances, a single drug test with no corroborating medical opinion or scientific analysis is sufficient to affix the label 'substance use disorder.' Children are removed for alleged maltreatment on the unfounded assumption any substance use automatically causes maltreatment. Children are returned conditioned upon the completion of general services and treatment which are known to not address the true material financial needs of families or substance users. Abstinence is the rule. Relapse, the normal process of recovery, will be punished. Pregnant people and infants face legal punishment and compelled services opposed by almost every major medical association because they do not contribute to proper care or improved outcomes for the parent or the child. Because the expanding family regulation system inappropriately relies upon pseudoscientific myths to oppress Black, indigenous, immigrant, poor, and other marginalized communities, we must reject these myths, abolish the family regulation system, and embrace the science and reality of substance use and family welfare. To build a more humane and democratic society, nothing short of abolishing and reimagining a new family welfare system that embraces science and reason, and no longer relies upon draconian practices that remove children from homes and target society's most vulnerable people, will do., I. INTRODUCTION 172 II. MECHANISMS FOR STEALING CHILDREN AND PUNISHING FAMILIES 179 III. DEFENDING PARENTS AGAINST SUBSTANCE USE MYTHS 184 A. Myth: Parents' Gender, Race, and Class Does Not 184 [...]

The consumer financial services industry has taken advantage of digital technology to transform the way it provides services to consumers using payment systems. After describing this new digital environment, the article describes its impact on low-income consumers. It examines statutes and regulations that offer limited protection for low-income consumers as well as gaps in those laws. Next, the article discusses three approaches to protecting low-income consumers along with the benefits and limitations of each. One way low-income consumers can be protected is through enforcement of consumer protection laws by administrative agencies. A second is by enacting new statutes and regulations to fill gaps in the law. A third is for the government to establish its own financial services systems. The article then examines three proposals for new financial services systems. These proposals will fail to adequately protect low-income consumers, however, unless lawmakers require institutions providing these services to include low-income consumers in their decision-making process and to justify their actions based on low-income consumer impact assessments., I. INTRODUCTION 134 II. DIGITAL DOMINATES THE NEW ERA OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL 136 SERVICES III. THE IMPACT OF POVERTY ON THE ABILITY OF LOW-INCOME 140 CONSUMERS TO BENEFIT FROM DIGITAL [...]

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the U.S. Department of Education reported teacher shortages in nearly every state, and within key subject areas, nationwide. Indeed, a recent national survey found that two-thirds of school districts report significant teacher shortages across math, science, and special education. Worse still, this labor crisis has disproportionately harmed students from low-income, racially segregated communities, where '75% of districts [have] reported a shortage. ' This is a problem. As indicated by a substantial (and growing) body of social science research, a qualified teacher workforce is one of the most important factors influencing student learning and achievement. In fact, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, in its seminal report on the relationship between teaching and learning, found that 'fwjhat teachers know and can do is the most important influence on what students learn. ' Perhaps more importantly, at least for the purposes of this Note, 'school reform cannot succeed unless it focuses on creating the conditions in which teachers can teach, and teach well.' Despite this growing labor crisis, reform measures at both the state and federal level have largely failed to meaningfully address the poor and unequal school conditions animating the prevailing teacher shortage crisis. This Note, in response to these failings, is the first to argue that labor reformers should address the teacher shortage crisis by directly challenging the poor school conditions that drive it. As the Supreme Court continues its assault on labor protections more broadly, this indirect, education-centered approach to labor reform has much to recommend it., I. INTRODUCTION 230 II. SAN ANTONIO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT V. RODRIGUEZ 236 III. A CRITIQUE OF STATE AND FEDERAL TRENDS 238 A. State-level Trends 238 B. The Curious Case of [...]

A growing majority of Americans support the implementation of a national single-payer healthcare program, also known as Medicare for All, which would shift payments for healthcare services to a single public payer and provide care based on need rather than ability to pay. However, legislators, scholars, and advocates have suggested state governments rather than the federal government should take the lead by implementing state-based single-payer programs. Dozens of single-payer proposals have been introduced in state legislatures across the country, and proposed legislation in Congress would remove the federal roadblocks to state-based single-payer's implementation. Proponents of state-based single-payer rely on the conventional wisdom that states--as the storied 'laboratories of democracy '--can prove the concept of single-payer to other states, who will adopt it in time. But, in taking the 'laboratories of democracy' theory at face value, advocates of state-based single-payer ignore a number of realities fatal to the assumption that universal healthcare will come from the states. This Article argues state-based single-payer is not a stepping stone to health justice or the implementation of national single-payer and that it is, rather, a stumbling block that will worsen health inequities in the United States and ultimately make the implementation of a national single-payer system even less likely than it is now. In order to demonstrate this, I analyze the history of state government experimentation in healthcare to conclude the laboratories of democracy theory has been tested in the healthcare domain and failed, harming the nation 's most vulnerable and historically oppressed people. Using the example of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion, I discuss the historic and present antidemocratic state government resistance to programs that promote health justice, particularly when those programs would increase healthcare access for poor people and people of color. Furthermore, I employ a political theory analysis to conclude state-based single-payer is not an acceptable policy for the federal government to promote under a health justice framework. This is because the implementation of state-specific single-payer programs will worsen health disparities by weakening the bargaining power of existing federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid and by fracturing a growing constituency in favor of single-payer, chilling popular momentum toward a national single-payer program., I. INTRODUCTION 178 II. NATIONAL SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE AND HEALTH JUSTICE IN THE UNITED STATES 180 A. Medicare for All, Who Is Promoting It, and Why 180 1. The Fragmented and [...]

The legislative wrangling over tort reform often frames the debate in purely economic terms, pitting medical providers against patients perceived to be litigious. The downstream effects of physicians' perceptions of patients' likeliness to sue has insidious consequences for those patients' care, especially when those perceptions do not align with reality. This Note considers the intersections between medical malpractice claims and vulnerable populations of patient groups, and analyzes the effects of misplaced physician attitudes towards those groups on their care., I. INTRODUCTION 274 II. THE FEAR OF LIABILITY AND PATIENT CARE 275 A. The Standard of Care for Vulnerable Groups 275 B. Physicians' Fears of Liability Create Barriers to Care [...]

In the United States, access to justice (A2J) initiatives are developed by people and institutions in urban areas. Accordingly, A2J supports are often premised on technological, professional, and infrastructural capacities that simply do not exist in many rural regions. Until now, no one has empirically examined the consequences of this metrocentric approach. Drawing on over three years of mixed-methods research across the Upper Midwest, this Article offers an urgent response. Not only are A2J 'solutions ' intrinsically insufficient in rural areas, but they compound existing stress and are even experienced as humiliating by many low-income rural residents. By introducing the role of dignity--;and what, or who, best provides it in the rural A2J context--;this Article offers a novel and necessary intervention in access to justice scholarship and policies. Uniting empirical data and policy analysis, this Article argues that prevailing A2J initiatives are flawed at three primary levels: (I) a failure to meaningfully recognize the limits of rural infrastructural capacity and the complex barriers low-income rural residents in particular navigate; (2) a presumption that anyone in a crisis situation, let alone someone facing these barriers, can effectively be their own attorney; and (3) a professional understanding of justice that is critically at odds with rural individuals' own expectations. Our response is not to offer one more rural A2J 'silver bullet' initiative, though the Article discusses what A2J options may offer more locally relevant experiences of justice. Instead, this Article highlights broader tensions that emerge when dominant narratives around 'access ' are held against the lived expertise of those who daily experience rural attorney shortages and other structural inequities. As the Article demonstrates, this profound mismatch of expectations is hugely consequential, resulting informs of 'access ' that are in rural areas experienced as barriers to justice., I. Introduction 322 II. Empirical Research on Rural Access to Justice 328 A. The Northland Context 328 B. Research Methods and Analysis 332 C. A Rural Intervention in A2J Policy [...]

Incarcerated people are excluded from Medicaid coverage due to a provision in the Social Security Act Amendments of 1965 known as the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy ('MIEP'). This Article argues for the elimination of the MIEP as an anachronistic remnant of an earlier era prior to the massive growth of the U.S. incarcerated population and the expansion of Medicaid eligibility under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. It explores three reasons for eliminating the MIEP. First, the inclusion of incarcerated populations in Medicaid coverage would signify the final erasure from the Medicaid regime of the distinction between the 'deserving ' and 'undeserving'poor and is consistent with and in furtherance of the ACA 's ultimate goal of universal health insurance coverage. Second, elimination of the MIEP furthers the bipartisan criminal legal system reform focus on reducing recidivism through effective reentry. Current efforts to use Medicaid to facilitate reentry require careful workarounds of the MIEP. Elimination of the policy would reduce logistical hurdles to ensuring continuity of care and enhance rehabilitation services provided during incarceration. Third, eliminating the MIEP coalesces with the goals of the emerging discourse around health justice, and specifically, its focus on how social determinants of health drive inequities. In including a health justice framework, this Article seeks to enrich the discussion in two directions. In the first instance, health justice illuminates structural factors such as discrimination and poverty that are root causes of health inequities and must be addressed alongside immediate health needs. At the same time, this Article aims to deepen the health justice discussion with a sharper focus on the role of incarceration in perpetuating health inequities, and the ways in which extending Medicaid access to incarcerated populations can improve treatment of immediate needs while also addressing structural inequities that cause and are caused by justice system involvement., I. Introduction 280 II. History and Context of the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy 285 A. Federal Funding Stimulated Mass Incarceration in the States 290 B. The Sick and Aging Prison [...]

In the last century, Black landownership has declined by roughly 90 percent. One agricultural attorney remarked of the phenomenon, 'I think the threat to Black-owned land is one of the biggest social issues of our time. ' The passing observer might hypothesize that the hemorrhaging of Black lands occurred in the distant past because of Jim Crow laws or the Great Migration. However, this notion is mostly false. Rather, the tremendous loss of Black lands occurred in the latter half of the twentieth century and into the current decade. Many such losses can be attributed to the prevalence of 'heirs property, ' or property defined by the existence of a tenancy-in-common form of ownership as a result of intestacy, and speculators, developers, and legal professionals' exploitation of such landowners' tenuous form of ownership through partition sales. Heirs property ownership is particularly widespread in the rural South and in predominately African American communities. It is the position of this Article that such exploitation has caused many, particularly in the African American community, to view legal professionals with distrust, particularly regarding property matters. In order to illustrate the connection between Black landownership and its past interactions with the legal system, this Article outlines the social and legal history of Black landownership. While scholars debate the impact of mistrust in the legal system and its practitioners on estate planning, this Article contends that past negative interactions with the legal system inhibit the utilization of estate planning services. As a result, this perpetuates a cycle of inheritance through intestacy on a massive scale. Finally, this Article provides proposed solutions for legal professionals to consider when dealing with such legal issues. In particular, courts must adhere to the majority of states' preferences for partitions in kind rather than demonstrating an over-eagerness in ordering partition sales. As such, courts should consider intangible property values when making partition determinations, rather than exclusively considering economic values. In order to accomplish this, the development of culturally competent attorneys and judges is paramount. Therefore, this Article argues that law schools and continuing legal education programs must emphasize cultural competence., I. Introduction 378 II. 'The Worst Problem You've Never Heard Of' 388 III. A Dual History: Black Landownership and the Law 390 IV. Negative Experiences with the Legal System May [...]

The civil justice gap is well-known, well-documented, and widening. Although judges, practitioners, and scholars have attempted for more than fifty years to increase the supply of civil legal services available to those in need, demand continues to dramatically outstrip supply. This article argues that given the static (or worsening) state of the civil justice gap, and the millions of Americans who do not even seek legal help for problems that otherwise might fall within that gap, legal literacy is paramount. The public health profession uses health literacy to help prevent health problems and temper demand for health services, and in fact, high levels of health literacy lead to fewer emergency room visits and better health outcomes. Health literacy is regularly included in public K-12 education. This article contends that the legal profession should try a similar approach for legal literacy. Legal literacy has the potential to prevent justice problems from needing formal legal intervention. It also can empower individuals to take advantage of existing legal protections on their own or make informed decisions regardless of the ultimate outcome. Increased legal literacy might also mean that Americans come to legal aid organizations before problems are too far gone and with more realistic expectations about results and remedies. After decades of chasing after supply-side solutions, it is time to look at demand., I. Introduction 412 II. The Justice Gap: Supply and Demand 415 A. Expressed Demand 415 B. Unexpressed Demand 418 III. Health Literacy: A Potential Blueprint 419 A. The Effects of [...]

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) suffers from two competing issues: incomplete take-up and overclaims--some eligible people do not claim the credit while some ineligible people do. This Note applies concepts from behavioral economics to these issues to determine why existing reforms have had limited success and what can be done to address them. This Note proposes the creation of an 'opt-out ' EITC system in which the IRS automatically determines EITC eligibility and the harmonization of the EITC audit rate with the national audit rate, accompanied by a bundle of existing EITC reform proposals., I. INTRODUCTION 244 II. OVERVIEW OF THE EITC 245 A. Description of the EITC 245 B. Benefits of the EITC 248 C. Take-Up and Overclaim Rates of the EITC 250 [...]

Immigrants who recently arrived in the United States generally are not able to exclusively possess rental properties in the formal market because they lack a steady source of income and credit history. Instead, they rent shared bedrooms, basements, attics, garages, and illegally converted units that violate housing codes and regulations. Their situations highlight the disconnect between tenant rights law and the deleterious conditions of informal residential tenancies. Tenant rights law confers a variety of rights and remedies to a residential tenant if the renter has exclusive possession of the premises. If the renter lacks exclusive possession, courts typically characterize the occupancy as a license, treating the renter as a transient occupant with contractual rights and remedies. Situating the experiences of new immigrants within the low-income housing affordability crisis, this Article proposes that courts should steer away from considering tenant status and its associated rights and remedies as a function of exclusive control of the premises. Instead, they should enforce informal tenants' legitimate interests, impose duties on those who rent out substandard units, and award damages when the rent paid is disproportionately high relative to the condition of the premises., I INTRODUCTION 160 II. TENANTS AND TENANT RIGHTS 164 A. Tenant Rights as a Special Legal Category 165 III. INFORMAL HOUSING 168 A. Housins Crisis as a Driver of Informality [...]

New York City (NYC) finds itself in an unprecedented housing crisis as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic reveals with devastating force that safe, sustainable and affordable housing is both a human right and a public health necessity. The profound humanitarian and economic devastation of COVID-19 puts millions of New Yorkers at risk of eviction--especially those within Black and Latinx communities. In addition, the pandemic hit just as the legal landscape for tenants was transformed through landmark legislation ensuring the Right to Counsel in eviction proceedings and sweeping reforms of New York's rent laws. The unparalleled COVID-19 pandemic, the influx of hundreds of new tenant attorneys resulting from the Right to Counsel, and the robust rent law reforms fundamentally alter the role and powerful potential of housing advocacy and the very function of NYC's Housing Court. These three forces provide an opportunity for housing attorneys representing low-income tenants to imagine new and creative ways to provide housing security and build tenant power. This Article canvasses the fundamental shifts in the NYC housing landscape and the movement to expand tenants' rights. It urges lawmakers to take bold action to avoid an eviction pandemic and shield tenants from homelessness and crushing debt. Next, it lays a blueprint for housing attorneys, both experienced and novice, to aggressively use the new tenant-friendly rent laws, creatively maximize underused tools, and leverage their collective strength to re-envision housing as a human right. The combination of the Right to Counsel, which has filled the ranks with passionate tenant attorneys, an empowered and progressive state legislature, and a vibrant tenants' movement has created a powerful force to demand comprehensive and far-reaching housing and racial justice for all New Yorkers and redefine the housing world that lies beyond the virus., I. INTRODUCTION 119 II. THE PROBLEM: THE EVICTION CRISIS 120 A. New York's Eviction Crisis 123 B. The Impact of COVID-19 124 III. AN ARMY OF HOUSING RIGHTS ATTORNEYS: THE [...]

In West Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, there is a correlation between poverty, place, and lower voter participation. In the 2016 presidential election, the five poorest counties in four of these states exhibited average voter participation rates that were appreciably lower than their five wealthiest counties. The fifth state discussed here--Oregon--features the opposite trend. This Note briefly explores a sampling of election laws in each state, with a particular emphasis on voter identification laws and the availability of mail ballots. It then considers several proposed pieces of federal legislation designed to expand the franchise. It also considers some of the salient concerns about voting during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and litigation surrounding the 2020 election. Drawing upon various pieces of legislation, the Note then offers a federal legislative proposal that ties federal dollars to the parity of voter participation between the poorest and wealthiest census tracts. All of this is possible with unified Democratic government willing to reform the filibuster. The reactions of state and federal leaders to the challenge of voting during the COVID-19 crisis only underscores the need for broad reform. Legislation like this Note's 'Equal Voter Participation Act of 2021' could survive under several constitutional theories. The disparity in participation between rich and poor voters will likely only grow wider with more restrictive state laws and the lack of a federal response. The time to act is now., I. INTRODUCTION: THE STATE OF PLAY IN AMERICA 202 II. VOTING WHILE POOR: RATES OF VOTER PARTICIPATION IN THE FIVE POOREST AND FIVE RICHEST COUNTIES OF FIVE (VERY DIFFERENT) STATES [...]

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color have long had to navigate the barriers of racist laws, policies, and actions in housing. Housing discrimination perpetuates segregation and contributes to maintaining the status quo of disparities with respect to health inequities as well as income, wealth, and opportunity gaps. The COVID-19 pandemic has put these inequities in stark relief. Data on the current status of such discrimination is valuable for policy makers who should develop anti-racist policies that dismantle structural racism and its attendant harms. Using matched-pair testing, we measured the level of discrimination based on race and income level in the Greater Boston rental housing market, where both race- and income-based housing discrimination is illegal. Data from the study shows high levels of discrimination against both Black people and individuals using housing vouchers throughout the pre-rental application process, with evidence of race-based discrimination in 71% of tests and voucher-based discrimination in 86% of the tests. In the vast majority of cases, real estate professionals discriminated against Black people and voucher holders, beginning with the initial interaction and continuing throughout the process. The promises of the Fourteenth Amendment, Civil Rights Act of 1866, and the Fair Housing Act remain unfulfilled, caught in a cycle of new forms of discriminatory behavior and enactment of policies and laws that are ineffective in combating discrimination. Policy makers should heed the findings from this study and work to enact measures that can curb housing discrimination effectively., I. Introduction 37 II. Brief Overview of Race and Voucher Discrimination 18 A. Race Discrimination in Housing 41 B. A Brief Overview of Housing Vouchers 47 C. Voucher Discrimination 48 [...]

America's system of mass incarceration is the product of the over-policing of low-income people of color, often for minor offenses. A critical site of entrenched policing takes place in the public housing context. Public housing residents live under a system of surveillance in which they are constantly monitored and policed. Harsh federal public housing policies - built on racist housing prioritization for whites at the expense of Black communities - are compounded by constitutional jurisprudence justifying outsized police intrusion. Together, these policies and practices work to criminalize public housing residents. This Note argues that draconian and paternalistic public housing policies and policing practices must be abolished. As harmful drivers of mass incarceration, these policies further entrench poverty and dangerous racialized notions of people living in poverty. American history includes two contrasting stories of public housing: one for white people, involving trust, unquestioned support, and investment, and one for Black people, characterized by distrust, criminalization, and disinvestment. It is long past time that we reconceptualize public housing by applying the same worth to Black residents as has been historically and is still regularly accorded to white residents. This can be done by envisioning public housing not as a site of marginalization and control, but as a system of support that enables mobility and trusts those whom it purports to help., I. Introduction 96 II. Historical Background 98 A. The Creation of Public Housing 98 B. The History of Criminalizing Public Housing 100 1. Public Housing in the Public Imagination 100 [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed extreme inequities in Internet access throughout the United States. It is estimated that approximately 42 million American people still lacked the capacity to purchase broadband Internet access as of February 2020. Given the scale of this social problem and the urgent need to address it, this Article suggests that it is time to recognize a new fundamental right to technology as a liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This new right, if recognized and protected, would stimulate a paradigm shift. It would expand Internet access by triggering proactive governmental measures, enhanced judicial protection, and scrutiny of technology companies' responsibilities., I. Introduction 76 II. Roots of Inequities in Access to the Internet 77 III. Internet Access and the Fundamental Right to Technology 79 A. The Internet as a Fundamental Technology [...]

Now more than ever, low-wage workers are struggling to make ends meet. To help cash-strapped households that need money before their next paycheck arrives, fintech companies have begun offering early wage access products (EWAPs), which allow employees to access their earned, but unpaid wages between paychecks. Little is known about how EWAPs function or their impact on consumers. EWAPs may provide necessary relief to financially struggling Americans, but they may also cause more harm than good if left unregulated. This Note examines the structure of EWAPs and how uncertainty in federal regulation of EWAPs has led to state action through two primary means: (1) state enforcement actions and (2) state legislation. This Note provides consumer-friendly recommendations for regulating these novel products with the goal of encouraging the market to grow while protecting users., I. INTRODUCTION 430 II. THE RISE OF EARLY WAGE ACCESS PRODUCTS 431 A. What are Early Wage Access Products? 432 1. How Earnin Works 433 B. Payday Loans vs. Early [...]

In Virginia's two-tier trial court system, a losing defendant may appeal to the Circuit Court for a trial de novo to be heard by a judge or jury simply by paying the fees, costs, and an appeal bond usually equal to the judgment amount. However, an indigent defendant is only required to pay the appeal bond in very limited circumstances. Unfortunately for the indigent defendant, there is no clear way for the defendant to have the court make the necessary indigency determination, which undermines the entire purpose of the exemption for the indigent defendant. There are two possible solutions: either the courts should start applying a more flexible standard for when a motion to determine indigency should be heard as the General Assembly intended, or the General Assembly should amend Section 16.1-107 to clearly give the indigent defendant authority to bring such a motion in Circuit Court., I. INTRODUCTION 390 II. HISTORY OF THE INDIGENT IN VIRGINIA 391 A. Colonial and Post-Revolutionary Virginia 391 B. The Antebellum South and Post-Civil War Vagrancy Laws 391 C. The Jim [...]

This Article analyzes self-represented litigants (SRLs) in the civil justice system. The increased number of filings by SRLs is often referred to as a crisis. There are several challenges that SRLs pose in individual courtrooms and to our civil justice system as a whole. Even with the recent trend of standardized self-help forms, SRLs have difficulty with procedural matters, articulating their cases sufficiently, and other formalities of the legal process. This in turn affects the overall efficiency of the system and deprives SRLs of their right to equal access to justice. The legal profession has not caught up with the rising numbers of SRLs, and very few procedures for uniform reporting exist in order to study and monitor the effect of SRLs nationwide. The civil justice system is especially lacking a national reporting mechanism to study the increase of SRLs; however, many continue to refer to this significant increase as a crisis while not having concrete numbers to understand the complexity of issues. This Article advocates for a systems approach to study the SRL crisis with all stakeholders at the table in order to effectuate much needed change. To properly understand whether we should refer to the increased SRL numbers as a crisis, this Article first explores the term 'crisis' and crisis management principles to better understand a more formal process to properly label a current moment as a true crisis. Many times, the term 'crisis' is used loosely to reference an emergency with the need for an urgent response. However, without a systems approach to analyze whether an event truly qualifies as a crisis, any urgent response might be ineffective, and a crisis may continue to grow until it reaches the point of a full-fledged disaster. This Article makes a simple gesture to expose the deficit in data and reporting structures and suggests a call for urgency to organize the collection of data to study outcomes through a systems approach at a national level., I. INTRODUCTION 356 A. A Summary of Scholarship on SRLs as a History of the Crisis 359 II. UNDERSTANDING THE SPECIFIC CONTEXT OF THE TERM 'CRISIS' TO BUILD BETTER RESPONSE [...]