High court takes on "Landlords vs Code Enforcement"

If you missed this, here is an article about an interesting case involving the City of St Paul Minn and their recent "crack-down" of enforcing the codes beyond those standards already applied for federal housing subsidies. The entire article is found here. This suit brings into question the tactics that cities and municipalities implore to raise the housing standards, particularly in economically distressed neighborhoods and striking the right balance between offering fair housing and a place that is safe and up to code. This case should further clarify the courts position on FHA's standards for fair housing discrimination where it has become increasingly inconsistent among the various circuit courts throughout the country.

Does that tree house have a permit?

For those of you in Zoning Enforcement, you might be interested in this story. To summarize, the owner is an active member of the armed services and he had this built on his property:

He ran afoul of the law when he constructed a tree house without a permit. Now the local zoning board has issued an order to have it removed. OUCH! I'm not in zoning enforcement, but I can't help but to feel sympathetic to both sides of this, the military dad and the zoning official. Fortunately, our city does not regulate tree houses!