The home improvement market continues to benefit from a strong housing market, according to our latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA).
A new paper estimates that 62 percent of renter households (19.2 million) have “residual-income burdens,” meaning they don’t have enough income to meet a modest but comfortable standard of living after paying rent.
This year, the pandemic, calls for racial justice, and climate change combined to bring the country's housing challenges to the fore, but historically low interest rates and strength in housing sales could lead an economic recovery.
Joint Center for Housing Studies
of Harvard University
The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies helps leaders in government, business, and the civic sectors make decisions that effectively address the needs of cities and communities.
This paper examines the housing affordability crisis using a residual income approach to identify renter households whose housing expenses are too high and who lack the income to enable them to meet a basic but comfortable standard of living. The findings reveal both the challenges of high housing costs and insufficient incomes that keep many American households from meeting their basic needs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, service coordinators played a pivotal role in the support of older adult residents of publicly funded housing properties. Some independent housing operators employ service coordinators to increase residents’ self-sufficiency, physical security, social connections, and the delivery of long-term community-based supportive services. This report presents results from a survey conducted between June 23 and July 17, 2020 to explore the experiences of these service coordinators during the early months of COVID-19.
This year, the COVID-19 pandemic, a powerful movement for racial justice, and the devastating impacts of climate change have combined to bring the nation’s longstanding housing challenges to the fore. The economic crisis has worsened rental affordability challenges and put homeowners at risk of foreclosure, widespread calls for racial justice have pointed out sharp disparities in access to decent affordable housing, and a series of powerful hurricanes and raging wildfires have shown how vulnerable the country is to the impacts of climate change. However, historically low interest rates, strength in the for-sale market and in homebuilding could lead a broader US economic recovery.
