all Joint Center for Housing Studies stories

Professor honored for ongoing environmental research

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:29:41 -0400

Harvard Professor Jack Spengler and MIT professor Mario Molina shared the $250,000 Heinz award, which recognized the independent bodies of work by Spengler and Molina, although coincidentally the researchers are collaborating on air quality studies in Mexico City. Spengler, Akira Yamaguchi Professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, was recognized for his research as well as his advocacy efforts. "Dr. Spengler is a true scientific explorer, having charted, virtually by himself, an undiscovered environmental scourge -- indoor air pollution," said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation. "He has succeeded in focusing the nation's attention on a new insidious, invisible threat, one that had been silently and adversely affecting the nation's health. The technology that scientists rely on today for critical air pollution measurements would not have been possible without Dr. Spengler's pioneering work." Spengler is currently helping to lead the Healthy Public Housing Initiative, an endeavor to respond to high levels of asthma in low-income communities in Boston. He was co-editor of the Indoor Air Quality Handbook. Earlier in his career, he was a researcher with the groundbreaking Six Cities Studies, which explored the environmental risks associated with sulfur dioxide and particle emissions from coal-burning power plants. The studies found a lethal relationship between particulate matter and cardiovascular mortality.

Study shows maintaining homeownership gains is key to strong economy

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:22:53 -0400

A June 2002 report by The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University documents the strong demographic foundation of current and projected future housing market activity. According to the report, the housing sector is poised to set new records for production, sales, and aggregate home equity in the years ahead, as strong growth in immigrant and minority households will result in an expected 22 million increase in the number of homeowners and a 1.6 million increase in renters over the next 20 years. Accounting for almost two-thirds of household growth, the report forecasts that minorities will constitute over half of all renters and a quarter of all owners by 2020. The growth in homeownership and consumer spending linked to accumulated home equity was an important reason why the recent economic recession was so mild, the report asserts. Despite the overall robust assessment of housing market conditions, the report documents how mortgage defaults and foreclosures are on the rise among recent lower-income purchasers, especially those families who accessed new forms of higher-cost subprime mortgages to acquire a first home.

Recession takes toll on remodeling activity

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:19:48 -0400

Because of the recession experienced during the fourth quarter of 2001, fewer people were remodeling their homes. The research finding comes from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which tracks such changes. "While spending has not fallen off precipitously, we are in the midst of a modest downturn," remarked Nicolas P. Retsinas, the director of the Joint Center. "In light of the reality of the recession, homeowners have begun to defer and cancel major housing renovations." The measure is called the Remodeling Activity Indicator. The RAI is regularly released by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies during the third week after each quarter's closing -- two quarters before the U.S. Commerce Department's data on residential improvements and repairs is available -- in order to provide industry with an accurate and timely reading of national remodeling activity levels.

Anatomy of the low-income homeownership boom in the 1990s

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:14:58 -0400

The rate of home ownership in the United States has grown to an unprecedented 67.7 percent since the 1990s. Low-income ownership has grown in particular. According to a study by researchers Mark Duda and Eric S. Belsky at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, an increase in manufactured housing has helped to fill the demand, especially in the South, where 40 percent of buyers purchased manufactured homes. In the Northeast and in central cities, apartment condos helped to meet the demand for home ownership.

Housing market resilient in slowing economy

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:14:55 -0400

The housing market has not been affected by a slowing economy, according to a report, The State of the Nation's Housing: 2001, released in June 2001 by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. In fact, home sales at the beginning of the year were near record levels. However, prices for houses and rents continued to climb, raising concerns about affordability. Mortgage costs for the typical homebuyer rose so much faster than income that the rising cost alone absorbed most of the income gain. Rent exceeded inflation for the fourth year in a row. Principal support for this study was provided by the Ford Foundation and the Policy Advisory Board of the Joint Center for Housing Studies. Additional support was provided by the Fannie Mae Foundation, the FHLBanks, Freddie Mac, the Housing Assistance Council, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies, the National Association of Realtors, the National Council of State Housing Agencies, the National Housing Endowment, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National Multi Housing Council, and the Research Institute for Housing America.

Minority students more likely to be labeled "mentally retarded"

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:05:58 -0400

When compared with their white counterparts, African-American children were almost three times more likely to be labeled "mentally retarded," according to a paper by Thomas B. Parrish, managing research scientist at the American Institutes of Research.

High school dropouts concentrated in 35 cities

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:05:00 -0400

The nation's high school dropout problem is most desperate in between 200 to 300 schools in the 35 largest cities in the U.S. The cities are Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, San Antonio, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, Austin, Columbus, Milwaukee, Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, Memphis, El Paso, Oklahoma City, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Washington D.C., Long Beach, Phoenix, San Jose, Seattle, Tucson, Virginia Beach, New Orleans, Jacksonville, and Charlotte. "As states impose new standards and high-stakes tests for graduation and promotion, some predict that our dropout problem will only get more dire," says Robert Schwartz, president of Achieve Inc. "Our challenge is to raise academic standards for all students, while simultaneously ensuring that at-risk students receive the supports they need to meet the standards and stay in school."

Internet revolutionizing way designers (and others) work

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:07:52 -0400

Professor Spiro Pollalis, who serves as director of the Center for Design Informatics at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, estimates Internet-based project management networks are now being utilized by as many as 10 percent of architectural design firms, and those numbers are expected to mushroom in the years ahead. "We see the Internet as being the unifying part that brings the different organizations together," he says. What is occurring in the design and construction industries, Pollalis believes, is indicative of the expanding role the Internet will play in all business sectors in the not-so-distant future. "We're going to see things happening in a very different way than they happen today," Pollalis explains.

Despite some progress, segregation persists in Boston area

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:08:46 -0400

A report, "Segregation in the Boston Metropolitan Area at the End of the 20th Century," found that despite the progress that disadvantaged minorities have made in achieving homeownership outside of Boston, there is a danger that the benefits of such ownership may not accrue to them because of racial and ethnic segregation. In particular, the report raises concerns about the emergence of highly segregated schools across the metropolitan area. In addition, income segregation provides evidence of the persistence of a patchwork of "have" and "have-not" communities outside of Boston that affect the opportunities available to lower-income families of all races and ethnicities. According to the report, almost one half of the purchases made by African-American and Hispanic home buyers outside of Boston were concentrated in seven of 126 communities. To achieve racial and ethnic integration, more than 50 percent of minority home buyers would have had to have bought a home in a different city or town.

High stakes tests in Texas threaten disadvantaged students

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:06:13 -0400

Texas is frequently cited as a national leader in efforts to raise academic performance and hold schools accountable for student performance. At the center of these efforts is the statewide standardized test, the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS), administered to public school children in grades 3 to 10. Students must achieve a minimum score in order to proceed to the next grade and to graduate from high school. However, according to two studies of education reform in Texas, such tests have deepened the educational inequity between whites and minorities and widened the educational gap between rich and poor students. "Texas is frequently heralded as a successful model for the nation of how tests can improve the academic performance of students, particularly poor and minority students," says Gary Orfield, co-director of The Civil Rights Project at Harvard. "These studies, however, raise serious questions about the wisdom of putting so much at stake on one measure."