Heather K. Way joined the Texas Law faculty in 2006, where she co-directs the Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic. A national expert in affordable housing and community development and a frequent commentator in the media, Professor Way focuses on increasing housing stability, opening paths to economic opportunity, and fostering equitable and inclusive communities.
Professor Way’s work has contributed to many high-impact legal reforms at the state and local levels including, most recently, laws to facilitate the creation of community land trusts and broaden heir property owners’ access to property tax relief programs. Professor Way is also the co-founder of the Uprooted Project, which provides resources and strategies for addressing displacement in gentrifying neighborhoods in Texas.
Her current work includes a focus on increasing the housing stability of homeowners with heirs’ property (for example, here and here) and addressing substandard housing. Other recent work includes a community toolkit on preserving historic places with ties to African-American heritage and an analysis of the property tax breaks available for affordable housing complexes sponsored by public facility corporations. Professor Way is also the author of Real Property for the Real World, a book of hands-on case studies for law students in property law courses.
Since Fall 2021, Professor Way has served as the ABA Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section Advisor for the Uniform Law Commission’s Tenancy in Common Ownership Default Rules Drafting Committee. She is also the co-chair of the Community Development Practitioners and Legal Educators Practice Group for the American Bar Association’s Affordable Housing and Community Development Forum.
After graduating from The University of Texas School of Law, where she co-founded the Public Interest Law Association and was Grand Chancellor, Professor Way clerked for the Honorable William Wayne Justice of the Eastern District of Texas and served as a Skadden Fellow representing tenants and community groups at Legal Aid of Central Texas in Austin. Following her fellowship, she co-founded and directed Texas Community Building with Attorney Resources (Texas C-BAR), a statewide program that has delivered millions of dollars in pro bono transactional legal resources to community organizations.