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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Harvard Magazine

The Senior Housing Shortfall

For many, aging in place is about remaining in the home they have lived in and, in some cases, owned for decades, says lecturer in urban planning and design Jennifer Molinksy, who directs the JCHS’s Housing an Aging Society Program.

The Atlantic

How Florida Beat New York

In 2017, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies concluded that almost 44 percent of all households and slightly more than 27 percent of renter households in the New York–Newark–Jersey City metro could afford a median-priced home in their area.

The New York Times

The Next Retirement Communities Won’t Be Just for Seniors

A more diverse older population, increasingly without close family connections and often hard hit during market downturns like the 2008 recession, means the number of affordable units needed for future seniors is “daunting,” said Jennifer Molinsky of Harvard’s Joint Center on Housing Studies.

Marketplace

The average U.S. renter now spends 30% of their income on rent, a new all-time high

When people have to spend so much on rent, they have less to save for a down payment to buy a house, per Alexander Hermann, a researcher at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “They’re also spending less on food, less on school supplies, less on health care, clothes. Really it means less leftover for all other essentials,” he said.

Vox

It looks like people are actually moving back to San Francisco (really)

The number of people leaving San Francisco based on the number of change of address forms filed in the city declined to 12,000 last year, down from about 48,000 in 2020 and 18,000 in 2021, according to change of address data from the US Postal Service collected by Riordan Frost, senior research analyst at Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

NPR (All Things Considered)

How buying a home became a key way to build wealth in America

"Homeownership has been a central way of building wealth, certainly all throughout the post-war period," says Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies. "Although I would say importantly, it was not an avenue that was open to many people of color, particularly African Americans."