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Frank S. Alexander

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Frank S. Alexander
  • Role: Administration
  • Education: JD/MTS, Harvard University
  • Webpage: click here

Founding Director and Sam Nunn Professor of Law, Emory University

Frank S. Alexander is a world-renowned expert on affordable housing and homelessness.

FRANK S. ALEXANDER is Sam Nunn Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion.  He is Co-Founder of the Center for Community Progress, an organization that helps U.S. communities integrate vacant, abandoned, and blighted properties back into their economic and civic life.  He has served as Interim Dean of the Law School (2005-2006) and as Visiting Fellow at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University (2007). His courses include Property, Real Estate Finance, State and Local Government Law, Law and Theology, and Federal Housing Policies. The author of more than 50 publications in the fields of real estate finance, law and theology, and community development, some of his recent publications include Create Affordable Housing for All,(Spring, 2013); Land Banks, Andrew G. Carswell, ed., The Encyclopedia of Housing 2d edition (2012);  Georgia Real Estate Finance and Foreclosure Law 2011-2012 (6th ed. 2011); Land Banks and Land Banking (2011), Neighborhood Stabilization Strategies for Vacant and Abandoned Properties (2011), Land Banking As Metropolitan Policy (2008); Louisiana Land Reform in the Storms’ Aftermath (2008); Christianity and Human Rights:  An Introduction (Cambridge Univ. Press 2010) (with John Witte, Jr.); and Christianity and Law:  An Introduction (2008, with John Witte, Jr.).

Recipient of the Emory University Thomas Jefferson Award (2006), the Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Professional School Teaching (2005), the Student Bar Association Award for Most Outstanding Professor (2010, 2004), the Laura Jones Hardman Crystal Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service (2001), the Ben F. Johnson Faculty Excellence Award (1998), and the Emory Williams Award for Distinguished Teaching in Professional Education (1991), Professor Alexander was selected eight times as the Professor Who Best Exemplifies the Ideals of the Legal Profession by the Emory Student Bar Association. 

Founder of Emory University's Law and Religion Program in 1982, Professor Alexander's work in recent years has focused on community development and affordable housing.  From 1993 to 1996, he served as a Fellow of the Carter Center of Emory University, specializing in neighborhood redevelopment activities and low-income housing in conjunction with The Atlanta Project.  He served as a Commissioner of the State Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless from 1994-98.   In May, 2008 he testified before Congressional subcommittees on the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, and in November, 2009 on strategies to address the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Professor Alexander is past Chairman of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta, a non-profit community service agency providing consumer credit counseling, and of Community Friendship, Inc., a non-profit psycho-social rehabilitation program for the chronically mentally ill.  He is the recipient of The George A. Pindar Award, Real Property Law Section, State Bar of Georgia (2006), the Inspiration Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Public Interest, Emory Public Interest Committee (EPIC) (2002), the Outstanding Service Award of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society (1996), the Georgia Affordable Housing Award for Individual Initiatives (1995), and the Citizen’s Award for Outstanding Service from the Fulton County/City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority (1995).

Professor Alexander received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, a Masters in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and a B.A. from the University of North Carolina.

 

Research Projects

Publications & Lectures

Books

Articles

  • "Neighborhood Stabilization and Land Banking," Communities & Banking, Vol. 20, No. 3 (2009)
  • "The Conviction of Things Not Seen: A Tribute to Hal Berman," Emory Law Journal, Vol. 57, No. 6 (2008): 1393
  • "Lousiana Land Reform in the Storms' Aftermath," Loyola Law Review, Vol. 53, No. 4 (2008): 727-762
  • "Don't Bet the House," Partners in Community and Economic Development, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2007)
  • "The Housing of America's Families: Control, Exclusion, and Privilege," Emory Law Journal, Vol. 54, No. 3 (2005): 1231-1270
  • "Land Bank Strategies for Renewing Urban Land," Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, Vol. 14 (2005): 140-169
  • "Theology and Law," Emory Law Journal, Vol. 54 (2005): 325
  • "Constitutional Questions About Tax Lien Foreclosures," Government Finance Review, Vol. 16 (2000)
  • "Inherent Tensions Between Home Rule and Regional Planning," Wake Forest Law Review, Vol. 35 (2000): 539-561
  • "Tax Liens, Tax Sales and Due Process," Indiana Law Journal, Vol. 75 (2000): 747-807
  • "The Study of Law and Religion: An Apologia and Agenda," Ministry & Mission, Vol. 14, No. 1 (1988): 4-15

Chapters

Lectures and Essays

Lecture Tours

  • Webcast
    "Land Banking as a Foreclosure Mitigation Strategy"
    National Housing Conference
    December 2009
  • Testimony
    "Testimony before the Ohio General Assembly"
    Senate Committee on Ways & Means and Economic Development, House Committee on Local Government and Public Administration, House Bill 313/Senate Bill 188
    December 2009
  • Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives
    "Lessons to Learn from the Current Mortgage Crisis"
    Committee on Governmental Oversight and Reform, Domestic Policy Subcommittee
    Washington, D.C.
    November 2009
  • Panel
    "Housing After the Crash... Creating Better Options for our Future"
    World Habitat Day
    Georgia Institute of Technology
    Atlanta, GA
    October 2009
  • Podcast Series
    "Land Banking as a Foreclosure Mitigation Strategy"
    Foreclosure Response Podcast Series
    Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
    Atlanta, GA
    September 2009
  • Public Lecture
    "The Context for Legal Authority and Decision Making, Supporting Development at the State Level"
    National Housing Conference
    Chicago, IL
    June 2009
  • Testimony
    "Testimony before Baltimore City Council"
    Taxation and Finance Committee, on City Council Bill #09-0261
    Baltimore City Land Bank Authority
    Baltimore, MD
    June 2009
  • Public Lecture
    "Vacant and Foreclosed Properties - State Laws and Federal Responses"
    National Vacant Properties Campaign
    Louisville, KY
    June 2009
  • Public Lecture
    "Law and Health Promotion - The Case for Physical Activity: The Context for Legal Authority and Decision Making"
    National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
    Atlanta, GA
    May 2009
  • "Policy Reform and Regulatory Strategies for Vacant Property Reclamation: Federal Responses to Vacant Properties"
    Ford Foundation
    New York, NY
    May 2009
  • Testimony
    "Senate Bill 57 and House Bill 264 - mortgage finance and foreclosure legislation"
    Georgia House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
    Atlanta, GA
    March 2009
  • Richard E. Nelson Symposium
    "The Foreclosure Crisis and Community Loss Mitigation"
    University of Florida Levin College of Law
    Gainesville, FL
    February 2009
  • Lecture
    "East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority: From Planning to Execution"
    Planning Commission of the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge
    Baton Rouge, LA
    December 2008
  • Lecture
    "The HERA Neighborhood Stabilization Program, Land Banking and Housing Trusts"
    OneAthens Housing Group
    Athens, GA
    November 2008
  • Lecture
    "The Mortgage Crisis, the Credit Crisis, and $700 Billion"
    Emory University School of Law
    Atlanta, GA
    October 2008
  • Lecture
    "Stabilizing Neighborhoods with Concentrations of Vacant and Abandoned Properties"
    Federal Reserve Board
    Minneapolis, MN
    September 2008
  • Forum
    "LBAs, CLTs, and the Foreclosure Crisis"
    Atlanta Regional Housing Forum
    Atlanta, GA
    September 2008
  • Summit
    "The Evolving Legal Landscape for Louisiana Redevelopment"
    Summit on Smart Growth
    Center for Planning Excellence
    Baton Rouge, LA
    August 2008
  • Lecture
    "Baltimore City Land Bank: Laying the Foundations"
    Mayor's Task Force on the Land Bank Authority
    Baltimore, MD
    July 2008
  • Symposium
    "The Foreclosure Process and Community Loss Mitigation"
    Symposium on Stabilizing Communities: Addressing the Negative Impacts of Foreclosure
    Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
    Los Angeles, CA
    July 2008
  • Testimony
    "before the U.S. House of Representatives, Join Hearing of Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Domestic Policy Subcommittee, and Financial Services Committee"
    about mortgage foreclosure crisis legislation
    U.S. Congress
    Washington, D.C.
    May 2008
  • Lecture
    "Transforming Foreclosed Properties into Community Assets: Framing the Solutions and Opportunities for Intervention"
    Furman Center for Real Estate
    NYU Law School
    New York, NY
    May 2008
  • Testimony
    "before Georgia Senate Banking and Finance Committee and the Georgia House Judiciary Committee"
    Senate Bill 531
    Georgia General Assembly
    Atlanta, GA
    March 2008
  • Symposium
    "Louisiana Land Reform in the Storms' Aftermath"
    Loyola Law School
    New Orleans, LA
    January 2008

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