Property Rights

The causes of our housing crisis didn't just happen by accident — they were built on purpose. In the first installment of this series, we saw how misguided government policies have made decent housing unaffordable and unattainable for too many Americans. But to fully understand how we got here, we have to go back to the beginning — to the first ...

The City of St. Louis is seizing ownership of the downtown Railway Exchange Building away from its current private owners. The iconic building still evokes nostalgic holiday memories of its once-grand Famous-Barr flagship store's Christmas decorations. The store was reminiscent of A Christmas Story, where Ralphie was mesmerized by the Higbee's depa ...

The government stole from Lynette Johnson, a Guyanese immigrant in New Jersey, when it foreclosed on her property, sold it, and pocketed the difference between her property's selling price ($101,000) and her property tax debt (about $24,000). Finally, last week—after four years of Pacific Legal Foundation fighting for Lynette in court, and more ...

"Justice is the end of government." —James Madison, Federalist 51 When people are wronged by the government, they can come to Pacific Legal Foundation for justice. Meanwhile, PLF is also constantly working outside courtrooms to make laws more just. In the 2025 legislative session, Pacific Legal Foundation partnered with state legislators and al ...

It should go without saying: Squatters are not the same as overstaying tenants. Tenants that overstay had a legal contract with the property owner that allowed them to be in the home. Squatters never did. A property owner may not even know of squatters' presence. Squatting, simply put, is criminal trespassing. Yet several states have treated tresp ...

In the United States, about 11 million households currently keep chickens in their backyards, making these feathery friends the third-most-popular pets, right after dogs and cats. The chicken craze has increased significantly over the past few years, as chicken shortages have cause the price of eggs to skyrocket. The boom began around 2022, but ov ...

Fifty-five years ago, Congress passed and President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law. For a number of infrastructure projects that are built, funded, or approved by the federal government, NEPA requires federal agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement, or EIS. That EIS is essentially a public r ...

In the mid-1800s, slum housing in cities like New York had no air, no light, no water, no electricity, no gas, and no toilets. Thousands of cramped tenement apartments had no outside windows for light and air — only a doorway leading to a common, unlit interior hallway and stairwell. Water was from a well in a courtyard, perilously close to the p ...

Pamela Powell's most cherished childhood memories were made in her late grandparents' Washington, DC home. Pamela describes the home as a "staple in our family" and fondly remembers the countless Christmases where Gaston Sr. and Mattie Powell would gather their children, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, and cousins together to celebrate. The home w ...