-
News & Events
Furman Center Roundtable Discusses Impact of Foreclosures on Communities
December 12, 2012 - Growing out of research on how foreclosures affect neighborhood crime, funded by the National Institute of Justice, the Furman Center convened a group of experts to consider how to respond more effectively to the spillover effects that concentrations of properties in foreclosure impose on surrounding communities, like increased crime. Roundtable participants discussed what factors are driving these findings in New York City and also considered a number of innovative strategies to combat them, including community-based short sale programs and distressed mortgage purchasing programs, both of which might help homeowners avoid foreclosure and reach resolution of their default more quickly. Participants represented a broad array of stakeholders, including representatives from local government, nonprofit organizations, and academia.
-
News & Events
Vicki Been Discusses Bloomberg’s Legacy
December 4, 2012 – Furman Center Co-Director Vicki Been discussed the urban planning legacy of the Bloomberg Administration at a symposium by Fordham Law and the New York City Bar on Tuesday. The discussion ranged from the extensive rezoning efforts undertaken in recent years, including the expanded use of transferable development rights, to sustainability projects embodied in PlaNYC. For more on understanding the Bloomberg administration’s impact, check out the Furman Center’s paper on New York City’s recent history of removing regulatory barriers and research on Bloomberg era rezoning’s relationship with park accessibility and transportation.
-
News & Events
Ingrid Ellen Speaks on Assisted Housing at National Conference
November 28, 2012 – Furman Center Co-Director Ingrid Gould Ellen presented the latest research on rental housing policy in the U.S. at a national conference organized by the Ford and Open Society Foundations and hosted by the San Francisco Federal Reserve. The presentation synthesized a variety of Furman Center research including: a report on assisted households’ access to quality schools, research on crime rates experienced by poor renters, and the impact of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) developments on surrounding property values. View the full presentation here.
-
Research & Policy
Furman Center Researchers Produce Brief on Housing During and After the Great Recession
November 20, 2012 – Condensing a wide array of data from the beginning of the housing crisis in 2006 to today, Furman Center Co-Director Ingrid Gould Ellen and former Research Fellow Samuel Dastrup provide a brief overview of housing market trends during and after the recent recession in the report, “Housing and the Great Recession.” The report, which looks at the drop in home prices and the rise in foreclosures, also considers which regions and social groups have been hardest hit. The report is part of a series on the effects of the recession, and is produced in conjunction with the Russell Sage Foundation and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. Read the full report here and find out more about the series here.
-
Research & Policy
Ingrid Gould Ellen and Jessica Yager Publish Commentary in “Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity”
November 20, 2012 – The authors summarize Furman Center research showing that families with vouchers are not reaching neighborhoods that are substantially different than those lived in by other low-income families, despite the fact that the voucher program provides a relatively large subsidy and was designed, in part, to provide a broad set of housing choices. They argue that these findings raise important questions for policymakers about whether and what barriers to mobility are impeding the ability of families to move to better neighborhoods. Read the commentary here.
-
Research & Policy
Furman Center Releases Report on Assisted Housing and Education
November 14, 2012 - A new Furman Center/Moelis Institute report, “Do Federally Assisted Households Have Access to High Performing Public Schools?,” finds that that families in Project-based Section 8 developments and Public Housing and recipients of Housing Choice Vouchers typically live near schools with lower test scores than the schools near other poor families. Only families in Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) housing have access to schools that are slightly better than the schools available to other low-income families. The report also finds that, despite the flexibility provided by vouchers, families receiving Housing Choice Vouchers, on average, live near lower performing schools than families in Project-based Section 8 or LIHTC developments. The report also provides results for the 100 largest metropolitan areas, which show that assisted households tend to live near relatively higher performing schools in metropolitan areas with certain characteristics, including smaller size and less racial segregation. Read the full report here.
-
News & Events
Furman Center Researchers Present at 2012 APPAM Conference
November 11, 2012 - Featured as speakers, leading discussions, and presenting papers, thirteen Furman Center staff and affiliates including Co-Directors Vicki Been and Ingrid Gould Ellen participated in the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management Annual Conference this weekend in Baltimore. Highlights of the six Furman Center papers presented at the conference include research on the impact of the mortgage crisis on home values and inter-generational wealth transfers, the effects of community violence on student performance, the market for transferable development rights in New York City, and the quality of schools near households receiving federal housing assistance. Full details on the papers presented and Furman Center contributions here.
-
News & Events
Furman Center Researchers Present at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference
November 4, 2012 – Three Furman Center researchers presented papers at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Annual Conference this weekend. Center Co-Director Ingrid Gould Ellen presented the paper, “Preserving History or Hindering Progress: The Effect of Historic Districts on Local Housing Markets in New York City,” (Abstract available soon) written with fellow Furman Center Co-Director Vicki Been and Brian McCabe of Georgetown University. In addition, Jackie Begley presented, “Neighborhood Housing Values and Intergenerational Bequests” (Abstract), which investigates whether the housing boom and bust affected intergenerational wealth transfers, and Josiah Madar presented on the accumulation of bank-owned properties in New York, Atlanta and Miami, a preview of the upcoming paper “The Foreclosure Crisis and Community Development: Exploring REO Dynamics in Hard-Hit Neighborhoods” (Abstract).
-
News & Events
Mark Willis Speaks at National Community Investment Fund Conference
November 1, 2012 – Furman Center Research Fellow Mark Willis joined a panel on the future of community development banking at the annual conference of the National Community Investment Fund. The panel considered how changes in regulations, technology, and overall competition are affecting how community development banks will be able to operate in the future and explored new models and roles for mission-oriented banking institutions. More on the conference here.
-
News & Events
Mark Willis Speaks on Role of Financial Counseling in the Provision of Social Services
October 24, 2012 – Furman Center Research Fellow Mark Willis spoke at a conference jointly sponsored by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs and the Cities for Financial Empowerment Coalition that explored the value and feasibility of adding financial counseling as an integral accompaniment to the provision of social services.