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Research & Policy
NYU Furman Center Comments on HUD’s January 2020 AFFH Proposed Rule
Under the Fair Housing Act and subsequent federal legislation, local jurisdictions that receive federal funding have a duty not just to prohibit discrimination in housing, but also to affirmatively further fair housing. For decades, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) failed to ensure that the recipients of HUD assistance fulfilled their obligation to “affirmatively further fair housing”—to identify and proactively address barriers that would preclude people from accessing housing based on a series of protected characteristics outlined in the 1968 Fair Housing Act as amended: race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and family status. After a promising regulation addressing these longstanding shortcomings was finalized in 2015, HUD proposed a new rule in January 2020 once again overhauling the AFFH regulatory framework, despite the early promise of the 2015 changes. The NYU Furman Center, with MIT Professor Justin Steil, submitted formal comments in response.
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Data Updates
What are the Housing Costs of Households Most Vulnerable to Job Layoffs? An Initial Analysis
As the COVID-19 public health crisis grows in New York City and across the United States, there is significant concern about the economic effect the crisis will have on workers in occupations susceptible to mass layoffs. Workers in a number of sectors face significant income loss due to closures, reduced hours, and cancellations. While a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill that expands unemployment benefits was signed into law last Friday, not all affected workers will have access to the expanded aid. In an effort to understand the scale of the issue and disparities when examining potential impacts by race, we reviewed pre-crisis incomes and housing costs of New York City residents who work in occupations that are more vulnerable to income loss (“vulnerable occupations”).
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Policy Minute: Protecting Housing Stability Amidst the COVID-19 Crisis
This Policy Minute explores related research, recent developments, and viewpoints on Protecting Housing Stability amidst the COVID-19 Crisis
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Data Updates
New York’s Housing Insecurity By The Numbers
U.S. Congress, New York State, and New York City policymakers are in the process of developing a financial package with programs that will provide emergency housing assistance to address the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on housing stability and the housing market. To help inform these efforts we’ve outlined the following key information about New York City and New York State households and provides context for New York’s unique housing market.
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News & Events
Facing the Past: Housing and Community Development Landscape of New York City in the 1990s
To commemorate 25 years since the Furman Center’s founding, we are looking back at some of the notable scholarship, writing, and people connected to the Furman Center since our founding in 1995. Kicking off this retrospective, we look back at a collection of essays published in 1999 called Housing and Community Development in New York City: Facing the Future. The Furman Center’s first Faculty Director, Michael H. Schill, edited this compilation.
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Research & Policy
Public Housing Repairs and Resident Health
A new study published in Health Affairs, conducted by Furman Center Faculty Director Ingrid Gould Ellen, researcher Kacie L. Dragan, and NYU Wagner Dean Sherry A. Glied explores whether transferring ownership to private developers, and subsequent housing renovations led to improvements in residents’ health over a three-year period. The authors conclude, “While the ownership transfer and broad-based renovation do not appear to have appreciably influenced any individual health outcome in the three years after renovation, they may have modestly moved the needle on aggregate health.”
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Research & Policy
Do Housing Vouchers Improve Academic Performance? Evidence from New York City
While many of the benefits associated with the Housing Choice Voucher Program may help children succeed in school, there is little evidence to date showing impacts on children’s educational outcomes. A new study by NYU Furman Center Faculty Director Ingrid Gould Ellen, Amy Ellen Schwartz, Keren Mertens Horn, and Sarah A. Cordes fills this gap. Titled “Do Housing Vouchers Improve Academic Performance? Evidence from New York City” and published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, the paper analyzes whether, and to what extent, vouchers improve educational outcomes for children.
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Snapshot of Homeownership in New York City
The recent release of 2018 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data provides an opportunity to assess the most current public information on homeownership trends, purchase originations, and refinance originations in New York City. We share insights about homeownership patterns in New York City, drawing on the recently released HMDA data together with 2018 American Community Survey and up-to-date foreclosure data.
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News & Events
Income Volatility, Housing Instability, and Housing Assistance
On Tuesday, November 19, the NYU Furman Center hosted a policy breakfast at NYU School of Law’s D’Agostino Hall. At the breakfast, Income Volatility, Housing Instability, and Housing Assistance, panelists discussed the housing challenges associated with income and expense volatility and explored the ways in which current housing policies fail to help families facing those challenges. The panelists also described promising programs that mitigate the housing instability caused by income volatility.
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Research & Policy
Getting Low-Income Families to High-Opportunity Neighborhoods: Results from Small Area FMR
In The Effects of Small Area Fair Market Rents on the Neighborhood Choices of Families with Children , NYU Furman Center Faculty Director Ingrid Gould Ellen together with Samuel Dastrup and Meryl Finkel of Abt Associates Inc. evaluate how subsidy caps that vary according to ZIP Code alter the pool of affordable units, and whether they influence where families with vouchers live.
