In the media

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Our research is regularly cited in national and local news outlets; below is some of our recent press coverage.

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The Seattle Times

WA older adults fight isolation by rethinking senior housing

Growing social isolation and skyrocketing housing costs are driving people across the country to look for new ways of living and “mutual support,” said Jennifer Molinsky, director of Harvard’s Housing an Aging Society Program.

Newsweek

'Crisis' Warning Over Housing Market Affordability

Amid a historic housing supply shortage, a new working paper by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies posits that continuing to build more homes in the suburbs in the hope this will bring down hosing costs in cities may not be effective.

Curbed

When NIMBYs Got Their Veto Power

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.

CNBC

Here’s why FEMA has spent about $4 billion to help destroy flood-prone homes

“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 New York Times

Aging in Place, or Stuck in Place?

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.

The Wall Street Journal

This Could Be the Year the Home-Improvement Boom Fizzles Out. Here's Why.

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.

The Wall Street Journal

Boomers Bought Up the Big Homes. Now They’re Not Budging

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.