The Joint Center for Housing Studies is a research center on
housing
Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...
-related issues at
Harvard Kennedy School
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. Through its research, education, and public outreach programs, the center helps leaders in government, business, and the civic sectors make decisions that effectively address the needs of cities and communities.
History
The center was formed in 1959 under the leadership of
Martin Meyerson
Martin Meyerson (November 14, 1922 – June 2, 2007) was an American city planner and academic leader best known for serving as the President of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) from 1970 to 1981. Meyerson, through his research, mentorship, ...
, its founding director, as the Harvard–MIT Joint Center for Urban Studies, to address intellectual and policy issues confronting a nation experiencing widespread demographic, economic and social change. Its research was based on the premise that the resolution of these issues called for imaginative interdisciplinary approaches to the study of urban problems and issues, and required cooperation among universities, government and industry.
In 1989, a split was made from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
, and became affiliated solely with Harvard's
Graduate School of Design
The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is the graduate school of design at Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It offers master's and doctoral programs in architecture, landscape architecture, urban ...
and
Harvard Kennedy School
The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
. The center consolidated the focus on housing that had emerged during the 1970s, and changed the ending of its name from Urban Studies to Housing Studies.
An annual lecture in honor of
John Thomas Dunlop
John Thomas Dunlop (July 5, 1914October 2, 2003) was an American administrator, labor economist, and educator. Dunlop was the United States Secretary of Labor between 1975 and 1976 under President Gerald Ford. He was Director of the United Sta ...
is administered by the Joint Center for Housing Studies. Notable keynotes include: Herbert Kohler Jr. (2001);
Angelo Mozilo
Angelo R. Mozilo (born 1938) was the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Countrywide Financial until July 1, 2008.
Life and career
Mozilo was born in New York City, the son of a Bronx butcher. He received a Bachelor of Science deg ...
(2002);
Henry Cisneros
Henry Gabriel Cisneros (born June 11, 1947) is an American politician and businessman. He served as the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 1981 to 1989, the second Latino mayor of a major American city and the city's first since 1842 (when Juan ...
(2003);
Kim B. Clark
Kim Bryce Clark (born March 20, 1949) is an American scholar, educator, and religious leader who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since April 2015, and was the church's seventeenth Com ...
(2004);
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp (July 13, 1935 – May 2, 2009) was an American politician and a professional football player. A member of the Republican Party from New York, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bu ...
(2005);
Lewis Ranieri
Lewis S. Ranieri (; born 1947) is a former bond trader, founding partner and current chairman of Ranieri Partners,http://www.ranieripartners.com/ranieri-senior-executive-team-1/lewis-s-ranieri a real estate firm. He is considered the "father" o ...
(2008);
Shaun Donovan
Shaun Lawrence Sarda Donovan (born January 24, 1966) is an American government official and housing specialist who served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2009 to 2014, and Director of the US Office of Management ...
(2009);
Marc Morial
Marc Haydel Morial (born January 3, 1958) is an American political and civic leader and the current president of the National Urban League. Morial served as Mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002 as the city's youngest Mayor, President of the ...
Mel Martínez
Melquíades Rafael Ruiz Martínez (born October 23, 1946) is a Cuban-American lobbyist and former politician who served as a United States Senator from Florida from 2005 to 2009 and as general chairman of the Republican Party from November 200 ...
(2012);
Ron Terwilliger
J. Ronald Terwilliger (born 1941) is the Chairman Emeritus and retired chief executive officer of Trammell Crow Residential, and the founder and chairman of the J. Ronald Terwilliger Foundation for Housing America's Families.
Early life and edu ...
Marty Walsh
Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...
(2017);
Raphael Bostic
Raphael W. Bostic (born June 5, 1966) is an American economist, academic, and public servant who has served as the 15th president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta since 2017.Kim Dowdell (2019); and Michael Maltzan (2020).
Directors
Notable affiliates
*
Rahul Mehrotra
Rahul Mehrotra is Founder Principal of architecture firm RMA Architects (founded in 1990 as Rahul Mehrotra Associates) of Mumbai + Boston, and is Professor of Urban Design and Planning and Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design a ...
,
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
urban designer
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
*
Toshiko Mori
Toshiko Mori (born 1951) is a Japanese architect and the founder and principal of New York-based Toshiko Mori Architect, PLLC and Vision Arc. She is also the Robert P. Hubbard Professor in the Practice of Architecture at the Harvard University Gra ...
, architect
*
Alexander von Hoffman
Alexander Carl von Hoffman (born July 11, 1951, in United States) is an American urban planner and historian. He is currently Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Senior Research Fellow at ...
, urban planner and
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...