On March 23-24, BC Law will be hosting The Land Loss, Reparations & Housing Policy Conference in partnership with Harvard Law School Food Law & Policy Clinic, The Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy at the New School, and Institute for the Liberal Arts at Boston College. 

The conference will bring national experts in the areas of land loss, housing, and reparations for a two-day discussion of Black land loss,  potential strategies for redress, and housing inequality and affordability issues, and is part of Property and Housing Law Week at BC Law, which will take place March 20-24.

The conference is the kickoff event for BC Law’s new Initiative on Land, Housing, and Property Rights (ILHPR), which is the brainchild of BC Law Professor Thomas Mitchell. Professor Mitchell, who joined BC Law’s faculty at the start of this academic year, is a national expert on the ways that the property system can adversely impact marginalized communities in the United States. In particular, his research has explored the ways in which property laws have been used to systematically strip Black landowners of intergenerational wealth. In just one sector (agriculture) between 1920 and 1997, an estimated $326 billion in intergenerational wealth was taken from Black farm families. In addition to conducting research, Professor Mitchell has also drafted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA) – a uniform act promulgated by the Uniform Law Commission, which aims to help preserve family wealth passed on through real property. 

The sign-up link for the conference is here and for a more detailed overview of Prof. Mitchell’s work, see this recent BC Law Magazine article. 

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Property and Housing Law Week events will include:

• March 20, at 12:15 pm in Stuart 315: Rappaport Center Senior Fellow Danielle Kinkel’s Community Address. Danielle is General Counsel at Massachusetts Housing Partnership, and will discuss affordable housing and community development. Register here.
• Tuesday, March 21: a special panel in Professor Lisa Alexander’s 9:45 am Housing Law & Policy Seminar. Professor Alexander is also a faculty member of the Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights. Panelists include Jessica Boatright, Deputy Director, Dept. of Neighborhood Development, City of Boston; Rodger Brown, Managing Director, RE Devt, POAH (Preservation of Affordable Housing); Vanessa Calderon-Rosado, Executive Director, Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion; and Angie Liou, Executive Director, Asian Community Development Corporation. Seats are limited; contact lawevent@bc.edu if you are interested in attending.
• March 22, 11:45 am in Stuart 315: The Rappaport Center’s “Affordable Homeownership: Barriers and Solutions” program. Register here.
• March 23-24: Land Loss, Reparations & Housing Policy Conference. To learn more and register for either or both dates, please visit the event page here.

Jonathan Bertulis-Fernandes is a second-year student at BC Law. Contact him at bertulij@bc.edu.