Missing middle housing is seen as one possible solution to the affordable housing crisis. A new paper explores challenges and opportunities for production of this type of housing in Massachusetts and across the US.
A new working paper explores mobility trends before, during, and after the pandemic and places them within the historical context of changing mobility patterns.
The Industrious Neighborhood model for equitable urban growth reimagines light-industrial zones as productive living hubs that integrate housing and workforce development with emerging industries.
Joint Center for Housing Studies
of Harvard University
Our Center strives to improve equitable access to decent, affordable homes in thriving communities and conducts rigorous research to advance policy and practice.
Missing middle housing—a term referring to the building types between a single-family home and a mid-rise apartment building—is increasingly viewed by policymakers, housing advocates, architects, land use planners, and developers as one possible solution to the affordable housing crisis in Massachusetts and across the United States. Our new report, Unlocking the Missing Middle, will examine three aspects of middle housing. Part 1, "Surveying Missing Middle Housing—Trends in the United States and Massachusetts," provides an overview of this housing typology, along with major obstacles and opportunities to its greater production
There were temporary shifts in residential mobility during the pandemic, including an increase in moves in early 2020, heightened homeowner moves through 2021, and an increase in interstate migration through 2022, driven in part by remote workers. Other trends endured beyond the pandemic. Affordability barriers contributed to a further decrease in local mobility rates, which drove an overall decline in residential mobility both during and after the pandemic. Lower-density suburbs, smaller metro areas, and non-metro areas received heightened inflows both during and after the pandemic, buoying migration to low-density states. Conversely, large urban areas and many high-cost states had accelerated outflows during the pandemic, though these slowed after the pandemic. Sunbelt states continued to draw the most migrants overall during and after the pandemic, but post-pandemic flows point to an emerging shift in this regional paradigm.
The US remodeling market soared above $600 billion in the wake of the pandemic and remains 50 percent above pre-pandemic levels. Nonetheless, industry fragmentation, inflation, and a shortage of skilled trade labor jeopardize the ability of the industry to meet demand. Overcoming these obstacles will be critical for modernizing and preserving the housing stock and far more investment is needed to improve energy efficiency and disaster resilience for the country's 145 million homes.
