Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

Today @ 11am ET. The panel on Mortgage Credit and Generational Wealth, with our Patricia Bravo Morales, MPP starts at 2:55 pm ET. Register to attend online at: https://lnkd.in/d6B8EmQ6

Senior housing developer, owner, operator, and advocate 2Life Communities has appointed five new members to its board of directors, including Dr. Jennifer Hrabchak Molinsky, Director of our Housing an Aging Society program. https://lnkd.in/es_qvNJa

Kicking off an exciting semester of events this spring at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Join us! Events are in-person and livestreamed, free and open to all. See you there! 🕺

Harvard University students: Application deadlines are fast approaching for our summer fellowships and research grants. Students from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Harvard Kennedy School, and across the university are invited to an info session to learn about these funding opportunities on Friday, February 14 @ 2pm. https://lnkd.in/e9BYCGny

Immigrants accounted for 34% of workers in the construction trades last year and the jobs with the highest shares of immigrants were: • Plasterers (61% foreign born) • Drywall installers (61%) • Roofers (52%) • Painters (51%) • Carpet/floor/tile installers (45%) https://lnkd.in/euCwZPRD

Several reporters have asked me about #uninsured #homeowners affected by #wildfires in California – including who they are and what may happen to them after losing their homes. Our Consumer Federation of America report #Exposed published last year offers important insights here. We found that in 2021, 4.7% of homeowners in metro Los Angeles were uninsured. And by 2023 that number had risen to 5.4% of all homeowners in the metro. Who are these uninsured homeowners? These are mostly people without a #mortgage, as mortgage lenders require maintaining coverage as way to protect the collateral of their loan. However, those with lapsed coverage or who faced nonrenewals in California may find themselves in “force-placed” insurance, which only protects the financial interests of the lender. This leaves them with limited options to rebuild. Uninsured homeowners are also much more likely to be lower-income. They more often own a manufactured home, as it is often much harder to find affordable insurance coverage. It also includes many homeowners who have inherited their home: they generally do not have a mortgage and may find themselves house rich, cash poor. This is particularly dire in the context of California, where long-time homeowners saw their property values explode over the last few decades, even if they had lower incomes and few resources outside of the equity of the home, now destroyed by these fires. Exposed report: https://lnkd.in/dMRy83bQ Resources for affected homeowners: https://lnkd.in/ewDWB2te To apply for FEMA assistance: https://lnkd.in/eByq6pdb

We are offering a year-long Housing Design Fellowship for those graduating from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2024 or 2025. The fellow will serve as project manager for the next State of Housing Design book about national trends, ideas, and critical issues in residential design. https://lnkd.in/eBjB8pvb

Latino households are poised to drive homeownership gains through 2040. But policy, practice, and economic conditions will influence how many can achieve homeownership and access its wealth-building benefits. Our Patricia Bravo Morales, MPP will speak at a hybrid Urban Institute event on Thursday, January 30. https://lnkd.in/d6B8EmQ6

After two years of decline, spending on home remodeling is expected to grow this year. “While expenditures are expected to grow only modestly this year, we’ve increased our projection for the remodeling market size by $30 billion, or 6.4 percent, to $509 billion," says Abbe Will. https://lnkd.in/eR2-xb-g

New York City’s renewed efforts to tackle homelessness and untreated mental illness is raising complex questions about civil liberties, public safety, and effective care.