Our first paper for the new Housing Crisis Research Collaborative finds that conflicting research about the financial effect of the pandemic on renters has made it difficult for policymakers to assess need and provide aid.
While the broader US economy shrank in 2020, spending on home improvement grew, as people modified living spaces for work, school, and leisure. Read our new report, Improving America's Housing 2021.
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.
The COVID pandemic has had a particularly large impact on the financial well-being of renters in the US, and over the past year millions have struggled to pay rent. While several national and local surveys have provided useful information and insights into the experiences of financially struggling renters, studies using these surveys differ in scope, scale, and timing.
What is the impact of the sharing economy, pioneered by companies such as Airbnb, on the housing market? In this paper, Sophie Calder-Wang estimates the welfare and distributional impact of Airbnb on the residents of New York City.
While the US economy shrank by 3.5 percent in 2020, spending on home improvements and repairs grew more than 3 percent, to nearly $420 billion, as people modified living spaces for work, school, and leisure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while many professional remodeling projects came to a halt, DIY renovations surged. The sudden flexibility of remote work also increased demand for larger homes in lower-cost areas of the country.
