Press Releases

• Newly Published Article Addresses Concerns about Housing Development

  January 31st 2019

  A newly published paper, “Supply Skepticism: Housing Supply and Affordability,” co-authored by NYU Furman Center faculty directors, discusses the rising concerns about whether new housing development contributes to the displacement of low- and moderate-income residents.  Reviewing the arguments raised by those who question the wisdom of new housing (“supply skeptics”) as well as existing research, the paper concludes that new construction can help to moderate price increases and alleviate housing cost burdens for low- and moderate-income families. But the paper argues that a balanced approach – adding new market-rate supply while also building and preserving subsidized affordable units – is critical to produce and sustain economically diverse cities. The article was published in a special January edition of Housing Policy Debate. Read Supply Skepticism: Housing Supply and Affordability.

• New Release from Columbia University Press: The Dream Revisited

  January 24th 2019

  A new anthology released by Columbia University Press, The Dream Revisited: Contemporary Debates about Housing, Segregation, and Opportunity brings together a range of expert viewpoints on the causes and consequences of the nation’s separate and unequal living patterns. Leading scholars and practitioners, including civil rights advocates, affordable housing developers, elected officials, and fair housing lawyers, discuss the nature of and policy responses to residential segregation. The book features timely analyses of issues such as school integration, mixed income housing, and responses to gentrification from a diversity of viewpoints. A probing examination of a deeply rooted problem, The Dream Revisited offers pressing insights into the changing face of urban inequality. Edited by NYU Faculty Director Ingrid Gould Ellen and Justin Peter Steil of MIT.

• Report: NYCHA’s Outsized Role in Housing New York’s Poorest Households

  December 17th 2018

  A new fact brief by the NYU Furman Center outlines the critical role the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) plays in providing stable housing for the city’s poorest households. In 2017 over 60 percent of the roughly 174,000 households in NYCHA’s public housing developments earned 30 percent of Area Median Income (AMI) or less. That translates to just $28,600 annually for a family of four.

• Rollout of Universal Representation in New York City Housing Court Offers National Lessons

  December 12th 2018

  Today the NYU Furman Center released a policy brief examining the implementation of New York City’s Universal Access to Counsel (UAC) program for tenants facing eviction in housing court. As major cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark, Cleveland, and Boston consider expanding access to counsel, New York’s experience offers important lessons for program design and implementation.

• NYU Furman Center and Abt Associates Launch Tool to Tackle High Housing Costs

  October 11th 2018

  LocalHousingSolutions.org Provides a Policy Framework for Comprehensive and Balanced Local Housing Strategies

• Report: NYU Furman Center Releases New Analysis of City’s Brownfield Cleanup Program

  July 31st 2018

  Policy brief provides detailed report on program used to remediate hundreds of brownfield sites in New York City.

• NYU Furman Center Releases New Data on New York City’s Subsidized Housing

  June 28th 2018

  Fact brief provides new information on current and expiring subsidized housing in New York City.

• Report: New York City’s Housing Stock is Outpaced by Growth in Adult Population and Job Growth

  May 24th 2018

  NYU Furman Center report explores changes in the New York City housing stock over time, factors that drive demand for housing, and measures of the responsiveness of housing supply; finds that housing stock is not growing enough to adequately moderate pressures that increasing demand is putting on rents and housing prices.

• Ken Zimmerman to Join the NYU Furman Center as Distinguished Fellow

  March 16th 2018

  Ken Zimmerman, Noted Policy Maker, Civil Rights Attorney, and Fair Housing Expert, to Join the NYU Furman Center as a Distinguished Fellow

• NYU Furman Center Responds to HUD’s Assessment of Fair Housing Delay

  March 9th 2018

  In January 2018, the Trump administration announced that it was delaying the deadline for jurisdictions to complete an important analysis intended to ensure that communities are acting to reduce residential segregation and remove barriers to fair housing choice. In response to this delay, the NYU Furman Center evaluated some of the potential costs of the Trump administration’s action. The comments, prepared by NYU Furman Center Faculty Directors Vicki Been and Katherine O’Regan, focus specifically on the public engagement process, and were submitted to HUD on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

• Small Units Can be Part of the Affordable Housing Solution in New York City, If Barriers Removed

  January 31st 2018

  A new NYU Furman Center report makes the case for building new small-unit housing to more affordably accommodate New York City’s single-person, low-income households.

• Report: In U.S. Metros, More High-Income and Educated Households Opting to Rent

  October 5th 2017

  NYU Furman Center’s 2017 National Rental Housing Landscape finds that the majority of large U.S. metros saw an increase in the share of households that rented their homes, which was primarily driven by rise in higher-income and highly-educated households choosing to rent. Affordability challenges persist for low-income households, with high rent premiums for movers and historically high rent burdens across U.S. metros.

• NYU Furman Center Launches FloodzoneData.us

  May 25th 2017

  FloodzoneData.us provides access to data on people and housing in the U.S. floodplains. New analysis also finds that Florida, Texas, and California have highest risk to housing from flooding

• Report Analyzes the Proposed 421-a Tax Exemption’s Wage Requirement and Potential Impact on Housing

  February 8th 2017

  The NYU Furman Center finds that the proposed 421-a program’s increase in tax exemption to support the wage requirement exceeds the additional affordable housing benefit by $2.6 to $5.7 million for a 300-unit building. The report also finds that the higher tax break for developers may support a 10-18% rise in hard construction costs without lowering long-term financial returns.

• Vicki Been, Katherine O’Regan Return to NYU Furman Center

  February 6th 2017

  The NYU Furman Center announced today that Vicki Been and Katherine O’Regan will return to the NYU Furman Center from their government posts as HPD Commissioner and Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at HUD.

• NYU Furman Center Launches CoreData.nyc, a Hub for New York City’s Housing and Neighborhood Data

  December 9th 2016

  New data tool is the city's most comprehensive resource for property-level subsidized housing information 

• Report Surveys Local Government Responses to Gentrification

  October 27th 2016

  NYU Furman Center report provides overview of strategies to protect low-income households and the economic diversity of neighborhoods in cities with soaring housing costs.

• Report: More Than Half of New York City Homes Unaffordable to the Majority of Households

  August 5th 2016

  The newly-released NYU Furman Center / Citi Report on Homeownership & Opportunity in New York City highlights the unique elements of the homeownership market in New York City by analyzing recent home sales data and examining the potential purchasing power of households at various income levels in New York City, as well as the nearby counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester.

• Report Describes NYC Properties Affected by Sale of Tax Liens

  July 28th 2016

  A brief released today by the NYU Furman Center describes the process of tax lien sales in New York City, which affected over 15,000 properties and roughly 43,600 residential units between 2010 and 2015.

• Report Analyzes New York City’s Gentrifying Neighborhoods, Finds Dramatic Demographic Shifts

  May 9th 2016

  NYU Furman Center's annual State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods report identifies 15 gentrifying neighborhoods and finds that they have seen greater growth in the shares of the population that are young adults, college-educated, white, and living alone or with roommates, as compared to other neighborhoods.