Previous Best Paper on Housing Prize Winners

2026

A Comprehensive Revision to Colombian Policy Tools for Improving Housing Conditions

Juan Sebastian Rodriguez

Master in Public Administration and International Development

Harvard Kennedy School

Sponge City and Impermeable Housing Value: Evidence from London

Yihao Wu

Doctor of Design

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2025

Environmental Externalities of Urban Growth: Evidence from the California Wildfires

Stephanie Kestelman

PhD in Economics

Harvard University

Gentle Densities: Rethinking Single-Family Lots for Multifamily Living Through Off-Site Construction

Andres Lira Vigneaux

Master of Architecture II

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2024

Industrious Neighborhood: Model for Equitable Urban Growth in the Age of Industrial Evolution

Enrique Mutis

Master of Architecture in Urban Design

Harvard University

Quantifying the Welfare Effects of Gentrification on Incumbent Low-Income Renters

Robert French

PhD in Public Policy

Harvard University

Ashvin Gandhi

UCLA

Valentine Gilbert

PhD in Public Policy

Harvard University

2023

Early-Life Health Impacts of Affordable Housing in Higher-Income Areas: Evidence from Massachusetts Chapter 40B

Noémie Sportiche

PhD in Health Policy

Harvard University

Maximizing the Benefits of Housing Vouchers in New York City: Grantmaking and Advocacy Strategies for Robin Hood Foundation

Catherine Darin

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

2022

Extended-Family Wealth, Race, and the Transition to Homeownership

Cherrie Nicole Bucknor

PhD in Sociology

Harvard University

Priorities in Building Decarbonization: Accounting for Total Carbon and the Time Value of Carbon in Cost-Benefit Analyses of Residential Retrofits

Allison Hyatt

Master in Design Studies, Energy and Environment

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2021

Equitable & Effective Climate Change Mitigation

Rani Murali

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

Emily Kent

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

2020

Floodway Buyout Strategy for a Resilient Houston

Phil Pollman

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

Erica Vilay

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

2019

Site and Shelter: Design for the ‘Whole Landscape’

Charlotte Leib

Master in Landscape Architecture and Master in Design Studies, History and Philosophy of Design

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2018

A Pathway to Preservation? Planning Processes at the Intersection of Climate Change and Affordable Housing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Caroline Lauer

Master in Urban Planning

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2017

Toward Developing a Regional Coordinated Entry System for Youth and Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness in Greater Boston

Elizabeth Ruth Wilson

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

2016

Improving Rapid Re-Housing in the City of Boston

Subhadra Banda

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

Nolin Greene

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

2015

Linking Community Participation with Post-Disaster Housing Projects

Maria Ignacia Arrasate

Master in Urban Planning

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2014

Creating a Shared Home: Promising Approaches for Using Shared Housing to Prevent and End Homelessness in Massachusetts

Amanda Benton

Master in Public Policy

Harvard Kennedy School

2013

Debalkanizing America

Hernan Leandro Garcia

Master in Architecture

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2012

The Urban Housing Code – Responding to Immigrant Geographies

Neelima Panoli

Master of Architecture in Urban Design

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2011

Residential Dynamics, Neighborhood Quality and Housing Policy: Selection and the Stratification of Poor Minority Families

Holly Michelle Wood

PhD in Sociology

Harvard University

2010

Beyond Pruitt-Igoe: Examining the Architectural and Sociological Underpinnings that Led to the Demise of Public Housing

Eric McAfee

Master in Design Studies

Harvard Graduate School of Design

2009

The Case of Modern Industrial Residential Design and Realistic Innovation in Off-Site Homebuilding

Jonathan Caputo

Master in Design Studies

Harvard Graduate School of Design