Property Reference: P

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Plat

A plat is a map, drawn to scale, showing how a piece of land is divided into lots with streets and alleys, usually for the purpose of selling the described lots. After a plat is filed, legal descriptions can refer to lot numbers rather than portions of sections. Plats can also legally dedicate land for road and other rights-of-way.

The creation of a plat map is also an important step in the process of incorporating a town or city according to United States law. Because the process of incorporation must be done at a courthouse, the incorporation papers for many American cities may be stored hundred of miles away in another state: for example, the original plat for the city of San Francisco, filed in 1849, is kept at the Clackamas County courthouse in Oregon City, Oregon, then the capital of Oregon Territory and the site of closest federal land office. (California did not become part of the United States until 1850.)

Public housing

Public housing describes a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Although the principles are common, the details of the arrangements differ between countries, and so does the terminology.

In the United Kingdom public housing is often referred to as “council housing” and “council estate,” and is described in the article on that subject. Local not-for-profit housing associations have begun to operate some of the older council housing estates in the United Kingdom.

In the United States and Canada, public housing is usually a block of purpose-built housing operated by a government agency. Most housing communities were developed from the 1930s onward. Houses, apartments or other residential units are usually subsidized on a rent-geared-to-income (RGI) basis. Some communities have now embraced a mixed income, with both assisted and market rents, when allocating homes as they become available. Large multi-story buildings, often in large groups of similar buildings were popular government designs of the 1950s and 1960s. These are often called housing projects or “the projects.”

In recent years, many such projects have been torn down, renovated or replaced after criticism that the concentration of poverty in economically depressed areas, inadequate management of the buildings, and government indifference have contributed to increased crime. Indeed, US public housing continues to have a reputation for violence, drug use, and prostitution, leading to the passage, in 1996, of a federal “one strike you’re out” law, calling for the eviction of project tenants whose housing units are the scene of certain types of criminal activity, especially that which is drug-related.

Public Land Survey System

The Public Land Survey System (PLSS) is a method used in the United States to locate and identify land, particularly for titles and deeds of farm or rural land. The system is in use in all states except the first 13, Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii. The system has been in general use since the Land Ordinance of 1785. Its basic units of area are the township and section. It is sometimes referred to as the rectangular survey system.