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Research & Policy
QUARTERLY HOUSING REPORT: Citywide Home Prices Up Two Percent in Fourth Quarter of 2012
April 3, 2013 – Home prices in New York rose in the last quarter of 2012, according to the Furman Center’s New York City 2012 Quarterly Housing Update: 4th Quarter. Increase in prices was seen in all boroughs except Manhattan, with the Bronx showing the largest increase over the previous quarter, with prices up 8.1 percent. The Bronx also led the city with the most building permits authorized and the greatest increase in sales volume. See the press release or read the full report.
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News & Events
Vicki Been Speaks on the Challenge of Moving Housing from Flood Zones
March 28, 2013—Furman Center Director Vicki Been spoke at Columbia University about the implications of a housing retreat from areas that flooded during Hurricane Sandy. Noting that more than 300,000 residential units, 9 percent of the city’s total, were in flooded areas, Professor Been highlighted the enormous scope of moving residences from flood areas and addressed the zoning, legal, and planning challenges of such an endeavor.
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Research & Policy
POLICY BRIEF: Housing Voucher Recipients Don’t Cause Crime, but Tend to Follow in its Wake
March 15, 2013—A new report released today by the Furman Center and Moelis Institute debunks the long-held myth that the influx of households with vouchers causes crime in a neighborhood to increase. Rather, the report finds that housing voucher recipients tend to move into neighborhoods with high existing levels of crime. These findings should reassure communities worried about entry of voucher holders, but also raise questions about whether the Housing Choice Voucher program is reaching its stated goal of helping recipients reach “better” neighborhoods. See the press release or read the full report.
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Research & Policy
New Furman Center Report Finds That Superstorm Sandy Hit NYC’s Low-Income Renters the Hardest
March 6, 2013—Four months after Superstorm Sandy, New Yorkers continue to pick up the pieces and rebuild. A new study released today by the Furman Center summarizes newly available information about the characteristics of properties in the area in New York City flooded by Sandy’s storm surge, as well as demographic characteristics of households that have registered to receive assistance from FEMA. Released in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners, who provided a similar analysis on Long Island and New Jersey, the reports find that low-income renters were disproportionately impacted by Sandy and will require special assistance to fully recover. See the press release or read the full report.
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Research & Policy
POLICY BRIEF: Furman Center Finds Concentrated Foreclosures Lead to Increase in Neighborhood Crime
Foreclosures affect not only individual homeowners, but also the crime levels of the surrounding neighborhood, according to a new report released by the Furman Center. The study found that neighborhoods with concentrated foreclosures see an uptick in crime for each foreclosure notice issued. These effects are pronounced in hardest hit neighborhoods; that is, those with concentrated foreclosures. The report suggests that policing and community stabilizing efforts should prioritize areas with concentrated foreclosures, especially those where crime rates are already moderate to high. See the press release or read the full report.
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News & Events
Furman Center Co-sponsors Talk on Increasing Single Living
February 4, 2013 – More than 30 percent of the world’s population lives alone—a portion that is growing daily. How is this profound demographic shift transforming the economic and cultural life of cities around the globe? Join NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg, the author of Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, and Jerilyn Perine, Director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, for a discussion about the rise of single adults in New York, Paris, Tokyo, and other world metropolises at an event co-hosted by the Furman Center on February 7th at the Museum for the City of New York. Read more background on this topic here and get event details here.
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News & Events
Micro-Unit Buzz Presages Furman Report
January 24, 2013 – Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement last week of a winning design for a new micro-unit development in New York City reflects growing national interest in compact rental housing. With a series of roundtables last fall and a full report coming out in March, the Furman Center is actively researching the topic in 5 cities. In addition to New York, Denver, and Austin, the report will look at regulatory and other challenges to building compact rental housing in Washington DC, which has the highest percentage of single people living alone in the country, and Seattle, where micro-unit developments are selling out as fast as they are built. Check out Furman Center Legal Fellow John Infranca’s blog post on micro-units here.
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News & Events
Becky Koepnick Presents LIHTC Research
January 28, 2013 – Since it was created in 1986, the LIHTC program has created over 2.2 million units of affordable housing and today it is the largest affordable housing program in the US. Presenting at the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition annual meeting, Director of the Furman Center’s Moelis Institue for Affordable Housing Policy Becky Koepnick will discuss current and ongoing Furman Center research on the LIHTC program. Past research has found that LIHTC residents live near higher performing schools than other poor residents and that the program serves lower income residents official rules require.
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News & Events
Furman Staff Present to City Planning Commission in Advance of Parking Requirement Decision
January 24, 2013 – Applauding the Department of City Planning’s willingness to reexamine parking regulations in the Manhattan Core, The Furman Center’s Josiah Madar and Simon McDonnell presented a letter to the City Planning Commission. Among the changes included in the Department of City Planning’s proposed zoning text change, parking built to serve residential development would no longer be restricted to the building residents, and earlier changes to minimum parking requirements would be extended to buildings built before 1982 when the changes were enacted. The Furman Center’s commentary notes that these changes would add flexibility to the use of current and future parking. Read the full letter here, and the Furman Center’s 2012 policy brief on minimum parking requirements here.
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Research & Policy
Furman Center Research on Neighborhood Integration Featured in HUD Journal
January 24, 2013 – A Furman Center paper identifying the pathways through which neighborhoods become and stay integrated appears in the most recent issue of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Cityscape Journal. Looking at all American cities, the paper finds the number of integrated neighborhoods has risen since 1990 from 20 to 30 percent. The paper also considers the factors that influence neighborhood integration and help neighborhoods stay integrated. Read the paper here.