This year, the US housing market is shrouded in uncertainty. Join us June 24 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston or online for the release of our 2025 report.
What does the nationwide social housing movement mean for New England, a part of the country that is notoriously expensive yet uniquely rich in housing expertise?
In a new paper, we find that after paying for housing and basic living expenses, only 24 percent of households age 75 and over had sufficient income to afford a daily paid visit from a home health aide.
Three PhD candidates have been named 2025 John R. Meyer Dissertation Fellows. Congratulations to José Carlos Fernández Salas, Matthew Jacob, and Michelle Xiyue Li.
Joint Center for Housing Studies
of Harvard University
Our Center strives to improve equitable access to decent, affordable homes in thriving communities and conducts rigorous research to advance policy and practice.
This research examines the factors influencing older Hispanic homeowners' capacity to transfer housing equity to the next generation, potentially facilitating homeownership for younger Hispanic households. This study leverages data from the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS), the 2022 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), and the 2021 American Housing Survey (AHS), along with a review and synthesis of existing literature to explore the financial, demographic, and social factors impacting Hispanic homeownership and wealth retention over the homeownership lifecycle. Key areas of focus include income, debt, wealth, loans, homeownership, housing structure, mortgage interest rates, language proficiency, and health.
While the majority of older adults will need care and assistance at some point in their lives, services for tasks such as dressing and bathing are affordable to only a very limited number of older adults, particularly after housing and other living costs are paid. This paper used 2021 Genworth cost of care data, the American Community Survey, and the Elder Index, a regional cost-of-living estimate specific to older adults’ budgets, to construct a metro-level estimate of the total cost for housing, other basic living expenses, and one daily visit from a paid home health aide.
Missing middle housing—a term referring to the building types between a single-family home and a mid-rise apartment building—is increasingly viewed by policymakers, housing advocates, architects, land use planners, and developers as one possible solution to the affordable housing crisis in Massachusetts and across the United States. Our new report, Unlocking the Missing Middle, will examine three aspects of middle housing. Part 1, "Surveying Missing Middle Housing—Trends in the United States and Massachusetts," provides an overview of this housing typology, along with major obstacles and opportunities to its greater production
