Housing
 Urban Institute researchers monitor and assess housing market trends, affordable housing, homelessness, federal housing assistance, racial disparities and housing discrimination, and community revitalization. We recommended greater regulation and reforms for subprime mortgages before the housing market collapse and continue to follow its effects on families and neighborhoods. Our research informs decisionmakers with neighborhood-level data and evaluations of federal housing programs. Read more. Featured Links
Contact an expert on Housing PolicyRelated Policy CentersPublications on Housing
A Pragmatic Plan for Housing Finance Reform (Occasional Paper)
The paper starts from the premise that a future housing finance system must meet five essential goals: ensuring stability and liquidity so that the future housing finance system is resilient to crises and attractive to a wide range of global investors; ensuring access and equity so that all creditworthy borrowers can get access to the system; strengthening affordable housing, including rental housing for people who need it; limiting the government’s role and risk so that taxpayers are better protected; and establishing incentives, competition, and innovation so that a greater amount of private risk capital supports the system.
Housing Discrimination against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012: Full Report (Research Report)
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with the Urban Institute, has released its 2012 Housing Discrimination Study: Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities. The study's findings confirm a hard truth: that America's long journey to end housing discrimination remains unfinished. Real estate agents and rental housing providers recommend and show fewer available homes and apartments to minorities than equally qualified whites.
Housing Discrimination against Racial and Ethnic Minorities 2012: Executive Summary (Summary)
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, in partnership with the Urban Institute, has released its 2012 Housing Discrimination Study: Housing Discrimination Against Racial and Ethnic Minorities. The study's findings confirm a hard truth: that America's long journey to end housing discrimination remains unfinished. Real estate agents and rental housing providers recommend and show fewer available homes and apartments to minorities than equally qualified whites.
Urban Institute Welcomes New Housing Finance Experts: Laurie Goodman, Jim Parrott, Ellen Seidman, and Jun Zhu Join Urban Scholars to Focus on New Areas of Research (Press Release) The Urban Institute welcomes leading experts in housing finance to join forces with its current researchers on affordable housing and consumer finance. Urban Institute President Sarah Rosen Wartell, herself a public policy and housing markets expert, celebrated the arrival of the Institute’s newest leaders
Tax Reform, Transaction Costs, and Metropolitan Housing in the United States (Research Report) This study analyzes the effect of tax reforms on housing prices in selected cities. Using a model that incorporates transaction costs, the study finds (1) the president’s proposed limit on itemized deductions would have a minimal impact on housing prices; (2) eliminating itemized deductions altogether would cause housing prices to fall markedly; (3) limiting the mortgage interest deduction while providing a flat closing credit can boost housing prices; and (4) the higher 2013 tax rates are unlikely to substantially boost housing prices. Together, these findings suggest that plausible tax reforms will have only a modest impact on housing prices.
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