In the media

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Our research is regularly cited in national and local news outlets; below is some of our recent press coverage.

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Newsweek

Companies Are Starting to Give Employees Money for Rent

A report issued by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University last month found that in 2022, an unprecedented 50 percent of U.S. renters spent 30 percent or more of their income on rent and utilities. Worse still, nearly half of that group are severely cost-burdened, dedicating more than 50 percent of their income to housing costs.

The New York Times

A New ‘Holy Grail’ in the Housing Crisis: Statewide Rent Caps

From coast to coast, housing has emerged as perhaps the biggest statehouse issue this year. The number of households considered by the federal government to be rent-burdened — meaning that rent consumes more than 30 percent of their income — climbed to a record high of 22.4 million in 2022, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

NPR

Unaffordable rental market hits record heights

Rent has skyrocketed in the United States. That means Americans are handing over a bigger portion of their paycheck to their housing costs, leaving less money for things like food, electricity and commuting. The pandemic and inflation have both played a role in pushing rents higher, but Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, senior research associate at Harvard's Joint Center on Housing Studies, says it's not all bad news.

The New York Times

Keeping a Mortgage After 65: A ‘No Brainer’ or a Big Risk?

This dynamic is one factor driving historically large percentages of older Americans to carry mortgage debt into their senior years, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. In 2022, researchers found that just over 40 percent of homeowners older than 64 had a mortgage, a jump from roughly 25 percent a generation ago.

CNBC

More than 18 million rental units at risk from climate hazards as extreme weather becomes more common, Harvard study finds

More than 18 million rental units across the U.S. are exposed to climate- and weather-related hazards, according to the latest American Rental Housing Report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Harvard researchers paired data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index with the five-year American Community Survey to find out what units are in the areas that are expected to have annual economic loss from environmental hazards such as wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and more.