What's New
Accessibility Features for Older Households in Subsidized Housing
January 2020
In the last ten years alone, the share of older...
More seniors are living alone. Stop blaming them for the housing crisis.
Curbed
Research shows that the relationship between solo-living baby boomers and...
Addressing Homelessness: What Can (and Can’t) Architecture Do?
March 2020
Over the past two decades, Michael Maltzan, FAIA and his...
More seniors are living alone. Stop blaming them for the housing crisis.
Curbed
Research shows that the relationship between solo-living baby boomers and...
How Millennials Can Achieve Financial Security Without Owning a Home
Consumer Reports
Instead of building equity, many millennials are renting or living...
A Luxury Apartment Rises in a Poor Neighborhood. What Happens Next?
The New York Times
New apartments today overwhelmingly target higher-income renters. The median rent...
Addressing Homelessness: What Can (and Can’t) Architecture Do?
March 2020
Over the past two decades, Michael Maltzan, FAIA and his...
America's Rental Housing 2020
January 2020
With the number of cost-burdened renters again on the rise, local...
In Pursuit of Equitable Development: Lessons from Washington, Detroit, and Boston
April 2020
Equitable development, a new concept in planning and community development,...
Accessibility Features for Older Households in Subsidized Housing
January 2020
In the last ten years alone, the share of older...
A Case Study of GSE Politicization: The Flawed Narrative of Loose Credit
December 2019
A significant feature of America’s residential mortgage system is its...
Building Wealth through Homeownership: A Comparative Study of MHP’s ONE Mortgage Program and FHA
October 2019
This paper compares actual wealth building outcomes in the Massachusetts...
Research and Tools
The Association Between High Mortgage Debt and Financial Well-Being in Old Age: Implications for the Financial Education Field
February 10, 2020
Over the last few decades the share of older homeowners (age 62 and older) with mortgage debt has doubled, while the typical amount of outstanding debt relative to home values among this group has tripled. Older homeowners still paying off mortgage debt face high rates of housing cost burdens (paying more than 30 percent of income for housing), leaving less income for other necessities. In addition, homeowners with higher mortgage debt have less housing equity to tap for critical needs and face the ongoing risk of foreclosure. ...
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Demystifying GSE Credit Risk Transfer: Part II - How, and How Well, Does It Work?
February 03, 2020
Credit risk transfer (CRT) has become, in relatively quick order, a core component of the business model of the two Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs), Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and very substantially improves that business model. In this paper, Don Layton explains how CRT works....
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America's Rental Housing 2020
January 31, 2020
Despite slowing demand and the continued strength of new construction, rental markets in the US remain extremely tight. Vacancy rates are at decades-long lows, pushing up rents far faster than incomes. Both the number and share of cost-burdened renters are again on the rise, especially among middle-income households....
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Research Analyst
Losing Residents but Still Growing: How Migration and Population Change Affect Cities
Thursday, February 20, 2020
When I present research on residential mobility and migration in the United States, people are often surprised by the fact...
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Research Associate
10 Surprising Facts from America’s Rental Housing 2020
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
A few weeks after our research team has started digging into the data for a new report, we get together...
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Senior Industry Fellow
The GSEs and the Economic Cycle: Realistic Expectations
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
“The GSEs should be fully buying mortgages at all times, regardless of the state of the economy or mortgage markets.”...
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Research Analyst
High Levels of Mortgage Debt Are Associated with Lower Financial Well-Being Among Older Homeowners
Monday, February 10, 2020
As documented in the Center’s recent report, Housing America’s Older Adults 2019, both the share of older homeowners with mortgage...
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Rental Housing in the US: Findings from Our New Report
Date: Friday, February 21, 2020
Location: One Bow St, 4th Floor
Despite a slowdown in demand, rental markets across the US remain extremely tight, according to our new America’s Rental Housing report. Join us as Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a Research Associate at the Center and lead author of the report, discusses key findings, including how low vacancy rates, limited new construction, and a growing number of higher-income renters are driving a rental affordability crisis, particularly for middle-income renters.