Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing surveys the terrain, culture, and history of Latino/as and housing. Employing a vital historical perspective, it traces its core theme of how ...
More
Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing surveys the terrain, culture, and history of Latino/as and housing. Employing a vital historical perspective, it traces its core theme of how Latino/as once held expansive ranchland in the Southwest but are now primarily a landless population spread throughout the U.S. that clings to marginal property rights and precarious ownership through overcrowded urban rental units, transitory rural living arrangements, and, at best, home acquisitions financed by high-risk subprime mortgages. Land ownership and homeownership enable assimilation into the American dream and foster community contributions and participation. But the landscape of the Latino/a experience is marked by a long history of property loss and discriminatory exclusion, fostering the current dilemma in which critics rail at Latino/as for their transitory nature and supposed lack of allegiance and contribution to their local communities, yet structural, legal, and historical impediments keep Latino/as from the threshold of opportunity. Evolving as legal, business, and societal norms changed, an array of discrimination techniques accomplished the exclusion of Latino/as from the American dream. To establish sustained access to affordable housing for Latino/as will demand reform and commitment across many sectors to encompass law, land use zoning, mortgage lending, educational structures, and community initiatives. Above all, comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship is needed to stabilize Latino/a communities and help restore sustainable growth in national housing markets.Less
Tierra y Libertad: Land, Liberty, and Latino Housing surveys the terrain, culture, and history of Latino/as and housing. Employing a vital historical perspective, it traces its core theme of how Latino/as once held expansive ranchland in the Southwest but are now primarily a landless population spread throughout the U.S. that clings to marginal property rights and precarious ownership through overcrowded urban rental units, transitory rural living arrangements, and, at best, home acquisitions financed by high-risk subprime mortgages. Land ownership and homeownership enable assimilation into the American dream and foster community contributions and participation. But the landscape of the Latino/a experience is marked by a long history of property loss and discriminatory exclusion, fostering the current dilemma in which critics rail at Latino/as for their transitory nature and supposed lack of allegiance and contribution to their local communities, yet structural, legal, and historical impediments keep Latino/as from the threshold of opportunity. Evolving as legal, business, and societal norms changed, an array of discrimination techniques accomplished the exclusion of Latino/as from the American dream. To establish sustained access to affordable housing for Latino/as will demand reform and commitment across many sectors to encompass law, land use zoning, mortgage lending, educational structures, and community initiatives. Above all, comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship is needed to stabilize Latino/a communities and help restore sustainable growth in national housing markets.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter completes the examination of the transformation in rural settings of what was once extensive ownership by Mexicans of land in the U.S. Southwest by surveying the miserable state of ...
More
This chapter completes the examination of the transformation in rural settings of what was once extensive ownership by Mexicans of land in the U.S. Southwest by surveying the miserable state of housing today for farm workers, a group disproportionately comprised of Latino/as and especially of Latino/a immigrants. Many are young, with no savings that might make possible a home purchase or even a rental security deposit. Their meager incomes lead to precarious housing that has persisted for decades despite federal, state, local, and private efforts to confront failures in ensuring farm workers housing affordability and habitability.Less
This chapter completes the examination of the transformation in rural settings of what was once extensive ownership by Mexicans of land in the U.S. Southwest by surveying the miserable state of housing today for farm workers, a group disproportionately comprised of Latino/as and especially of Latino/a immigrants. Many are young, with no savings that might make possible a home purchase or even a rental security deposit. Their meager incomes lead to precarious housing that has persisted for decades despite federal, state, local, and private efforts to confront failures in ensuring farm workers housing affordability and habitability.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter makes the first geographical stop in a national housing survey, examining the wrenching economics for farm workers and other manual laborers in California’s affluent Monterey and Santa ...
More
This chapter makes the first geographical stop in a national housing survey, examining the wrenching economics for farm workers and other manual laborers in California’s affluent Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. This chapter also offers literary examples of the popular conception of Latino/as as poor stewards of their houses and the land, which resonates in U.S. society’s shabby treatment of Latino/as in the arena of housing policy. The chapter addresses specifically the derogatory literary depictions of Latino/a housing in John Steinbeck’s 1935 novel Tortilla Flat and T. C. Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, which complement the history of the literal loss of Latino/as’ land and homes, as well as their historical and current exclusion from the American dream of homeownership.Less
This chapter makes the first geographical stop in a national housing survey, examining the wrenching economics for farm workers and other manual laborers in California’s affluent Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. This chapter also offers literary examples of the popular conception of Latino/as as poor stewards of their houses and the land, which resonates in U.S. society’s shabby treatment of Latino/as in the arena of housing policy. The chapter addresses specifically the derogatory literary depictions of Latino/a housing in John Steinbeck’s 1935 novel Tortilla Flat and T. C. Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, which complement the history of the literal loss of Latino/as’ land and homes, as well as their historical and current exclusion from the American dream of homeownership.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter concludes the discussion of the history of loss in Latino/a housing with an overview of the recent subprime mortgage crisis—after decades of exclusion, Latino/as flirted briefly with ...
More
This chapter concludes the discussion of the history of loss in Latino/a housing with an overview of the recent subprime mortgage crisis—after decades of exclusion, Latino/as flirted briefly with artificial jumps in lending approvals and consequent homeownership that gave way to the tragedy of foreclosure and loans prone more to abuse than to improve the health and wealth of the Latino/a community. Mortgage lenders play a vital role in access to homeownership, but they have not always been Good Samaritans. Rather, historically they contributed to the exclusion of Latino/as and other minorities from the American dream through techniques of housing discrimination, most recently by the reverse redlining of promoting sometimes abusive subprime mortgage loans to borrowers of color.Less
This chapter concludes the discussion of the history of loss in Latino/a housing with an overview of the recent subprime mortgage crisis—after decades of exclusion, Latino/as flirted briefly with artificial jumps in lending approvals and consequent homeownership that gave way to the tragedy of foreclosure and loans prone more to abuse than to improve the health and wealth of the Latino/a community. Mortgage lenders play a vital role in access to homeownership, but they have not always been Good Samaritans. Rather, historically they contributed to the exclusion of Latino/as and other minorities from the American dream through techniques of housing discrimination, most recently by the reverse redlining of promoting sometimes abusive subprime mortgage loans to borrowers of color.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter surveys historical and current efforts to exclude impoverished residents and Latino/as from urban terrain by means of local government zoning laws directed at the circumstances of ...
More
This chapter surveys historical and current efforts to exclude impoverished residents and Latino/as from urban terrain by means of local government zoning laws directed at the circumstances of impoverished Latino/a housing, whether owned or rented—overcrowding and extended-family living arrangements—as well as their externalities, such as residential street and lawn parking. These zoning laws are marked by selective enforcement and questionable reliance on health and safety justifications. Exploring the legal challenges to these zoning laws, the chapter recognizes the latitude given local governments to enact laws that include no incontrovertible smoking gun of Latino/a animus. Accordingly, affordable housing solutions for impoverished Latino/a communities may be found best in the political arena rather than in the courtroom.Less
This chapter surveys historical and current efforts to exclude impoverished residents and Latino/as from urban terrain by means of local government zoning laws directed at the circumstances of impoverished Latino/a housing, whether owned or rented—overcrowding and extended-family living arrangements—as well as their externalities, such as residential street and lawn parking. These zoning laws are marked by selective enforcement and questionable reliance on health and safety justifications. Exploring the legal challenges to these zoning laws, the chapter recognizes the latitude given local governments to enact laws that include no incontrovertible smoking gun of Latino/a animus. Accordingly, affordable housing solutions for impoverished Latino/a communities may be found best in the political arena rather than in the courtroom.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter confronts the history of private means to exclude Latino/as and other unwelcome groups from residential neighborhoods by use of restrictive covenants among homeowners, as well as covert ...
More
This chapter confronts the history of private means to exclude Latino/as and other unwelcome groups from residential neighborhoods by use of restrictive covenants among homeowners, as well as covert techniques routinely employed to accomplish the same result after the Supreme Court invalidated racially discriminatory contracts as unconstitutional in a landmark case in 1948. Restrictive covenants were just one form of segregation employed against Mexican Americans and other Latino/as in the Southwest, mirroring similar practices against African Americans and other groups. The law of public and private nuisance has also been invoked to regulate different cultural and class lifestyles.Less
This chapter confronts the history of private means to exclude Latino/as and other unwelcome groups from residential neighborhoods by use of restrictive covenants among homeowners, as well as covert techniques routinely employed to accomplish the same result after the Supreme Court invalidated racially discriminatory contracts as unconstitutional in a landmark case in 1948. Restrictive covenants were just one form of segregation employed against Mexican Americans and other Latino/as in the Southwest, mirroring similar practices against African Americans and other groups. The law of public and private nuisance has also been invoked to regulate different cultural and class lifestyles.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0014
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter tackles contentious policy issues that must be resolved before U.S. residents find the political will to enact and implement the reforms aimed at creating fair and equal housing ...
More
This chapter tackles contentious policy issues that must be resolved before U.S. residents find the political will to enact and implement the reforms aimed at creating fair and equal housing opportunity for Latino/as proposed in the final two chapters. Preeminent among them is why Americans should care about the dismal state of housing for Latino/as, and whether undocumented and documented immigrants deserve the same treatment as Latino/a citizens. This chapter addresses these and other policy conundrums, such as the dilemma of whether regulation of overcrowding, housing quality, and home loan eligibility will hurt more than help by pricing or otherwise driving Latino/as out of purchase, rental, and housing finance markets.Less
This chapter tackles contentious policy issues that must be resolved before U.S. residents find the political will to enact and implement the reforms aimed at creating fair and equal housing opportunity for Latino/as proposed in the final two chapters. Preeminent among them is why Americans should care about the dismal state of housing for Latino/as, and whether undocumented and documented immigrants deserve the same treatment as Latino/a citizens. This chapter addresses these and other policy conundrums, such as the dilemma of whether regulation of overcrowding, housing quality, and home loan eligibility will hurt more than help by pricing or otherwise driving Latino/as out of purchase, rental, and housing finance markets.
David Church
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780748699100
- eISBN:
- 9781474408578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748699100.003.0005
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The book concludes with a discussion of nostalgia's relevance to the growing field of fan studies, arguing that much recent scholarship on fandom leans disproportionately toward figuring fans as ...
More
The book concludes with a discussion of nostalgia's relevance to the growing field of fan studies, arguing that much recent scholarship on fandom leans disproportionately toward figuring fans as technological early adopters and social-media mavens, and thereby plays into a corporate boosterism. By taking fuller account of how and why certain fan cultures may evince longing for the cultural past and deep scepticism about the present moment, future work on fandom will better account for the sheer range of fan cultures that fall outside the field's current purview. The conclusion ends with a political reading of a single retrosploitation film trailer as an example of further directions for research on this cinematic corpus.Less
The book concludes with a discussion of nostalgia's relevance to the growing field of fan studies, arguing that much recent scholarship on fandom leans disproportionately toward figuring fans as technological early adopters and social-media mavens, and thereby plays into a corporate boosterism. By taking fuller account of how and why certain fan cultures may evince longing for the cultural past and deep scepticism about the present moment, future work on fandom will better account for the sheer range of fan cultures that fall outside the field's current purview. The conclusion ends with a political reading of a single retrosploitation film trailer as an example of further directions for research on this cinematic corpus.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter completes the examination of the transformation in rural settings of what was once extensive ownership by Mexicans of land in the U.S. Southwest by surveying the miserable state of ...
More
This chapter completes the examination of the transformation in rural settings of what was once extensive ownership by Mexicans of land in the U.S. Southwest by surveying the miserable state of housing today for farm workers, a group disproportionately comprised of Latino/as and especially of Latino/a immigrants. Many are young, with no savings that might make possible a home purchase or even a rental security deposit. Their meager incomes lead to precarious housing that has persisted for decades despite federal, state, local, and private efforts to confront failures in ensuring farm workers housing affordability and habitability.Less
This chapter completes the examination of the transformation in rural settings of what was once extensive ownership by Mexicans of land in the U.S. Southwest by surveying the miserable state of housing today for farm workers, a group disproportionately comprised of Latino/as and especially of Latino/a immigrants. Many are young, with no savings that might make possible a home purchase or even a rental security deposit. Their meager incomes lead to precarious housing that has persisted for decades despite federal, state, local, and private efforts to confront failures in ensuring farm workers housing affordability and habitability.
Steven W. Bender
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814791257
- eISBN:
- 9780814739136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814791257.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter makes the first geographical stop in a national housing survey, examining the wrenching economics for farm workers and other manual laborers in California’s affluent Monterey and Santa ...
More
This chapter makes the first geographical stop in a national housing survey, examining the wrenching economics for farm workers and other manual laborers in California’s affluent Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. This chapter also offers literary examples of the popular conception of Latino/as as poor stewards of their houses and the land, which resonates in U.S. society’s shabby treatment of Latino/as in the arena of housing policy. The chapter addresses specifically the derogatory literary depictions of Latino/a housing in John Steinbeck’s 1935 novel Tortilla Flat and T. C. Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, which complement the history of the literal loss of Latino/as’ land and homes, as well as their historical and current exclusion from the American dream of homeownership.Less
This chapter makes the first geographical stop in a national housing survey, examining the wrenching economics for farm workers and other manual laborers in California’s affluent Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. This chapter also offers literary examples of the popular conception of Latino/as as poor stewards of their houses and the land, which resonates in U.S. society’s shabby treatment of Latino/as in the arena of housing policy. The chapter addresses specifically the derogatory literary depictions of Latino/a housing in John Steinbeck’s 1935 novel Tortilla Flat and T. C. Boyle’s Tortilla Curtain, which complement the history of the literal loss of Latino/as’ land and homes, as well as their historical and current exclusion from the American dream of homeownership.
