Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights, Boston College Law School

The Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights (ILHPR) seeks to preserve and expand property rights for disadvantaged communities across the United States by producing research, devising legal reform and policy solutions, engaging in community outreach, training law students, and drawing on other complementary strategies. The Initiative encompasses a wide range of matters, including but not limited to rural land loss among socially and economically disadvantaged families; the past and present of the destabilization of urban neighborhoods due to redlining, urban renewal, and rising markets; the role of law and policy in ameliorating housing inequality and housing insecurity; and the issues rural and urban so-called heirs’ property owners face in retaining their properties and realizing the potential of their ownership. The communities the Initiative seeks to assist are disproportionately but not exclusively communities of color. By helping communities of color preserve and expand their property rights, the Initiative seeks to help narrow the racial wealth gap. The initiative also strives to reform or create laws and policies to increase property and housing access, efficiency, and equity.