Theodore Hayes v. Philip Harvey (2018)

Citation: Theodore Hayes v. Philip Harvey (2018)
Parent Document: Theodore Hayes v. Philip Harvey (2018)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2018-08-31
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4532088/theodore-hayes-v-philip-harvey/ ↗

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In the late 1990s, Congress recognized that an
increasing number of owners were opting out of project-based
assistance contracts, thereby putting hundreds of thousands of
units of affordable housing at risk. Because HUD had
repeatedly failed to address this opt-out problem, Congress
passed legislation designed to compel HUD to act. Enhanced
vouchers, which were a part of this legislation, offered property
owners a carrot to continue renewing enhanced-voucher
tenancies: market-rate rent. With its decision today, the
majority takes this carrot and wields it like a stick, holding that
property owners must continuously renew enhanced-voucher
tenancies because such tenants supposedly have an enforceable
“right to remain” in their units beyond the expiration of their
lease term. Without any basis in the statutory text or history,
the majority has converted Congress’s incentive into an edict.
This so-called “right to remain” “may be a good idea, but it
was not the idea Congress enacted into law.” MCI Telecomms.
Corp. v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co., 512 U.S. 218, 232 (1994). I
respectfully dissent. ***

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