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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.
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Research & Policy
Reforming Housing Assistance
NYU Furman Center Faculty Director Ingrid Gould Ellen, along with co-authors Robert Collinson and Jens Ludwig, recently published Reforming Housing Assistance in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. In the article, the authors review current federal housing assistance policies and the research evidence supporting each policy. They subsequently identify and propose strategies to address three key challenges these programs face in meeting their stated objectives.
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News & Events
Sophia House Testifies Before Jersey City Council
On Wednesday, November 13, 2019, Furman Center Legal Fellow Sophia House testified before the Jersey City Council’s Rent Control Reform Committee as it evaluates Jersey City’s rent regulations. House’s testimony covered Furman Center research cataloging the diversity of rent regulation ordinances, identifying the decisions and tradeoffs involved in the designing and implementing these regulations.
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Research & Policy
Understanding Trends in New York City’s Evictions Data
The NYU Furman Center’s new data brief, “Trends in Housing Court Eviction Filings,” shows that citywide, the total number of eviction filings is decreasing. In 2017, private landlords initiated 176,590 eviction filings, down 4.6 percent from 2016 and 7.8 percent from 2010. Overall, the trends from this study indicate an increase in rental stability from 2010 to 2017, though this stability is not felt evenly throughout the five boroughs.
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News & Events
Policy Breakfast on Recent Tenant Protection Laws in New York City
On October 15th, the NYU Furman Center held a policy breakfast titled Shifting Landscape: Tenant Protection Laws and Initiatives in New York City. The breakfast included a diverse panel of experts who shared their perspectives on the impacts of recent tenant protection laws intended to curb harassment and improve residential stability. Panelists discussed the impacts on tenants, landlords, and city agencies and debated the need for more or less regulation.