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News & Events
Ingrid Gould Ellen Presents at Enterprise “Community Development 2020” Panel
July 25, 2012: Furman Center Co-Director Ingrid Gould Ellen participated in a panel discussion, “Community Development 2020: Creating Opportunity for All,” which sparked thought-provoking conversation on the future of community development among the panelists and more than 100 industry leaders in attendance. The New York panel was co-hosted by Enterprise Community Partners and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The Enterprise working paper on the “Community Development 2020” initiative is available here.
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News & Events
Mark Willis Presents on the State of the Housing Market at Forum
July 23, 2012: Research Fellow Mark Willis presented on the state of the national housing market at an American Action Forum panel at Ohio State University. Willis discussed drivers and potential deterrents to economic recovery. He also examined the positive impact of government programs, such as the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HAMP), to help distressed borrowers and distressed communities. The forum also explored further ways to stabilize the housing market and to reform the secondary housing finance market. Willis presented alongside Dr. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and former Chief Economic Policy Adviser to U.S. Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign; and Dr. Itzhak Ben-David, faculty member at the Fisher College of Business. Jim Weiker of the Columbus Dispatch moderated the discussion. American Action Forum is an independent and nonpartisan research institution, which engages in discussions on the role of government in national policymaking. Access the video of the full lecture here.
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Research & Policy
Furman Center Launches New York City Quarterly Housing Report
July 17, 2012: In an analysis of first quarter 2012 housing indicators, the Furman Center finds that home sales volume rose in the first quarter of 2012, with the number of transactions citywide up almost five percent. Housing prices throughout the city are up 3.5 percent compared to the same quarter last year. The report also finds that the number of foreclosure notices issued in Q1 2012 has fallen citywide since its peak in the third quarter of 2009. However, foreclosure notices in Queens and Staten Island increased by more than 20 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. The Quarterly Housing Update is unique among New York City housing reports because it incorporates sales data, new construction indicators, and foreclosures. It also presents a repeat sales index for each borough to capture price appreciation while controlling for housing quality. View the press release.
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News & Events
Katherine O’Regan Presents on LIHTC Project at Housing Credit Conference
June 26-29, 2012: Furman Center Affiliated Faculty member Katherine O’Regan presented on the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Project at the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ 2012 Housing Credit Conference and Marketplace in Denver, Colorado. The study, which examines data from 15 states and represents approximately 30% of LIHTC stock nationally, seeks to shed light on whether or not the LIHTC program reaches tenants with extremely low income (ELI), as well as, the resulting rent burden of such tenants. Katherine O’Regan and Keren Horn’s full working paper, “What Can We Learn about the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program by Looking at the Tenants?,” is available here.
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News & Events
Ingrid Gould Ellen Moderates Forum on New York City’s Homeless Policy
June 6, 2012: Co-Director Ingrid Gould Ellen moderated New York City Bar forum, “Narrowing Options for the City’s Homeless: Exploring Homeless Policy Under Bloomberg.” Forum participants examined changes to homeless and housing policy over the course of the Bloomberg administration, and as well as provided an overview of the current landscape of housing instability and homelessness in New York City. The discussion also highlighted the advocacy responses to, and implications of, policy changes for the city’s poorest individuals and families, and explored possible solutions to homelessness throughout the city.
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News & Events
Furman Center Researchers Present at AREUEA Conference in Washington D.C.
May 31-June 1, 2012: Furman Center researchers presented on topics including transferable development rights, household formation, urban development and mortgage loan modifications at The American Real Estate and Urban Economics (AREUEA) 40th Annual Mid-Year Conference in Washington D.C. Affiliated Faculty Researcher Sewin Chan and Doctoral Fellow Jackie Begley presented “The Effect of Housing Wealth on Work and Retirement Decisions.” Co-Director Ingrid Gould Ellen, Research Fellow Josiah Madar and Data Manager Max Weselcouch on “What’s Really Happening to the REO Stock? An Analysis of Three Cities: New York, Atlanta, and Miami.” Director Vicki Been, Legal Fellow John Infranca and Research Fellow Josiah Madar presented “The Market for Transferable Development Rights in New York City,” which analyzes development rights transfers throughout New York City, especially on the dynamics of transfers in the West Chelsea Special District. Ingrid Gould Ellen and Doctoral Fellow Michael Gedal also examined land use themes in “Valuing Urban Land: Comparing the Use of Teardown and Vacant Land Sales.” Research Fellow Andrew Hayashi’s “Salience, Inertia and Other Determinants of Property Tax Appeals” finds that property tax salience, measured by mortgage escrow, affects property tax appeals. More information on the conference is available here.
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News & Events
Research Fellow Mark Willis Presents on Multi-Family Housing at Hoyt Conference
May 18-20, 2012: Research Fellow Mark Willis served as a panelist at the Hoyt Institute conference in Palm Beach, Florida, where he discussed the role of government in the multi-family housing market. Alongside panelists from Deutsche Bank, Freddie Mac and Beekman Advisors, Willis, who noted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounted for over 50 percent of multi-family housing mortgage originations in 2011, explored alternatives to the secondary housing market, and discussed policies to strengthen the housing market demand in response to significant losses from mortgage-backed securities. The Hoyt Institute at the Weimer School, which convened scholars and practitioners from across the country, focuses on real estate and land use policy research.
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Research & Policy
Furman Center Releases State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods 2011
May 1, 2012: The Furman Center is pleased the present the 2011 edition of the State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods. In this annual report, the Furman Center compiles statistics on housing, demographics and quality of life in the City, its five boroughs and 59 community districts.This year we examine the distribution of the burden of New York City’s property tax, analyze the changing racial and ethnic makeup of city neighborhoods, evaluate the state of mortgage lending in New York City, and compare federally-subsidized housing programs across the five most populous U.S. cities. Read the Press Release here.
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Research & Policy
Furman Center Issues Fact Brief on Rent Stabilization Case
April 19, 2012: The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy has issued a fact brief about rent stabilization in New York City in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement on whether it will hear the case of Harmon v. Kimmel, which challenges rent regulation laws in New York City. The brief details the number of rent stabilized units in New York City, in addition to demographic and socioeconomic data comparing tenants inhabiting these units with tenants in market rate units. If heard by the Supreme Court, the case could potentially affect nearly half of the rental units in New York City. Read the full fact brief here.
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Research & Policy
Furman Center Research Featured in HUD’s Cityscape Journal
March 27, 2012: Two Furman Center research papers were featured in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Cityscape, a journal on policy development and research. Furman researchers, Samuel Dastrup, Simon McDonnell, and Vincent Reina’s paper “Household Energy Bills and Subsidized Housing” examines the incentives for different billing arrangements under the Project-based Section 8, Section 8 voucher, Public Housing, and Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs compared to unassisted properties. The study finds that assisted tenants’ rent is more likely to include utilities, which reduces the incentive for energy efficient investments. Research Fellow Vincent Reina and Data Manager Michael Williams’ paper “The Importance of Using Layered Data to Analyze Housing: The Case of the Subsidized Housing Information Project” features the Furman Center’s Subsidized Housing Information Project (SHIP) database, which combines more than 50 disparate data sets to provide extensive information on nearly 235,000 units of privately-owned subsidized rental housing in New York City. The article shows how the layering of data in the SHIP database provides a more accurate estimate of how many units have been developed, preserved, and may expire from their subsidy program, while the pooling of data allows for the analysis of financing trends for housing subsidy programs. Find the full papers here.