The Effect of the Warranty of Habitability on Low Income Housing: Milking and Class Violence

Housing for the poor suffers in quantity and quality as tenement landlords milk still viable buildings, allowing them to deteriorate and become uninhabitable at a rate that outstrips construction of new housing. As a result, the rate at which the poor filter up into higher quality buildings slows, crowding low income tenants into fewer, more run down buildings. Professor Kennedy postulate that selective enforcement of a warranty of habitability can maximize the useful lives of tenement buildings, and, contrary to the mainstream view, exert downward pressure on rents while increasing the supply of low income housing