In the Media

The research indicates the millennial move likely isn't going anywhere. A recent Harvard study showed the number of millennials moving to peripheral suburbs jumped 30 percent in ten years.

In a persuasive new article published by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the urban historian Jacob Anbinder traces that strange consensus, and the crisis it birthed, to a shift in liberal New York politics in the late 1960s. As the city suffered and the middle class fled, many urban liberals blamed the previous generations’ top down, blunt-instrument housing policies.

“We’re talking about a crisis of affordability in housing across the country, combined with the crisis of the climate change effects. How do we ensure that we provide for our population while making sure that they’re not in harm’s way?” asked Carlos Martín, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

The proportion of older adults with mortgage debt has been rising for decades. From 1989 to 2022, the share of homeowners aged 65 to 79 with mortgages climbed to 41 percent from 24, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The amount they owed rose, too, to $110,000 from $21,000, adjusted for inflation.

Americans are expected to spend $449 billion this year on home renovations and repairs, down from last year's record of $481 billion. That is according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, which was developed by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Smaller properties with amenities that might appeal to older homeowners, such as no stairs and close proximity to services, are scarce in many areas, said Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society program at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The ones that do exist can be expensive, she said.

In addition to a portfolio of innovative projects, The State of Housing Design addresses concepts including disguised or “gentle” density — that is, building more housing that respects neighborhood context — and communal development that together can redirect current design practice.

The desire to grow older in one’s own home — rather than having to move in with family or to a retirement home — is common among many generations. In 2021, 88 percent of older adults, defined as people at least 65 years old, lived in their own home, according to a report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

It’s striking how quickly the affordability crisis has gotten worse, as the pandemic and remote work have shifted where people live and what type of home they’re looking for. Median home prices have surged across the country in comparison to median household income — you can toggle this timelapse from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and see for yourself. Estimates of how many more housing units we need nationwide vary, but finance giant Freddie Mac puts it at nearly 4 million.

“I do think that we’re talking more about multi-generational communities,” said Jennifer Molinsky at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “And I think that there are a lot of people who want to be surrounded by people of all ages and have those daily interactions.”