Previous Events

Learn more about the research we do, upcoming events, as well as fellowships, prizes, and job opportunities.

Even as the US economy moves into recovery, the inequalities amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic remain front and center. Households that weathered the crisis with little financial distress are snapping up the limited supply of homes for sale, pushing up prices and further excluding less affluent buyers from homeownership...

While housing challenges faced by renters, such as unaffordability, poor physical conditions, crowding, and evictions, often occur simultaneously, they typically are studied as standalone problems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated preexisting housing challenges for many low- and moderate-income US renter households, leading to a crisis in which an estimated $25 to $34 billion in rental payments were outstanding as of late 2020. However, there is very little data on how landlords have responded to this financial strain.

Millions of Americans have long struggled to pay for housing, with communities of color additionally burdened by housing discrimination and historical race-based policies, such as legalized segregation, redlining, and mortgage discrimination.

President Biden's campaign proposed a $15,000 downpayment tax credit to help potential homebuyers who can afford monthly mortgage payments but do not have savings for a downpayment. In this seminar, researchers will discuss two Center-supported projects focused on who might be aided by downpayment assistance and the choices policymakers will need to make as they move forward with the plan.

Twice in the past decade, voters in Los Angeles County have approved ballot initiatives raising sales taxes to finance transport infrastructure investments throughout the region. In the face of uneven gains and displacement risks, ACT-LA, a broad-based coalition of transportation advocates, community and neighborhood groups, and organized labor, has led citywide and regional campaigns to ensure that the transit investments are coupled with affordable housing and inclusive workforce and economic development policies.

While the US economy shrank by 3.5 percent in 2020, spending on home improvements and repairs grew last year, increasing by more than 3 percent, according to Improving America's Housing 2021, our new report being released on March 25.

The new 100 Percent Affordable Housing Overlay (AHO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which encourages the production of permanently-affordable housing through density bonuses and a streamlined design review process, could be a model for other cities and towns with high housing costs.