The Week Ahead: Unraveling the Nation’s Housing Crisis

June 14, 2024 Eric C. Peck

On Thursday, June 20 at 11:00 a.m. Central, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University will present its “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024” Report.

As homeowners and renters nationwide continue to struggle with high housing costs, on the for-sale side, millions of potential homebuyers have been priced out of the market by high home prices and interest rates, while the number of renters with cost burdens has hit an all-time high. As a surge in new multifamily rental units has slowed down rent growth, single-family construction is starting to lift for-sale inventories.

Still, addressing the country’s housing crisis, including the record number of people experiencing homelessness, the inadequate housing safety net, and the growing threat of climate change, will require contributions from the private and nonprofit sectors, as well as policymakers at all levels of government.

A panel of experts will present findings from “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024” Report, and discuss these findings in an open forum. Invited speakers include:

  • Jennifer Ludden, Correspondent, National Desk, NPR (Moderator)
  • Chris Herbert, Managing Director, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
  • Priya Jayachandran, CEO, National Housing Trust
  • Chrystal Kornegay, CEO, MassHousing
  • Daniel McCue, Senior Research Associate, Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (Report Presentation)
  • Sheryl Palmer, Chairman & CEO, Taylor Morrison

Meet the speakers

Serving as Event Moderator, NPR National Correspondent Ludden covers economic inequality, exploring systemic disparities in housing, food insecurity and wealth. She seeks to explain the growing gap between socio-economic groups, and government policies to try and change it. Previously, Ludden edited stories on climate and energy, working with NPR staffers and a team of public radio reporters across the country. She helped track the shift to clean energy, climate policies and pushback to them, and how people and communities are coping with the mounting impacts of the warming world. And prior to that, Ludden was an NPR correspondent covering family life and social issues, including the changing economics of marriage, the changing role of dads, and the ethical challenges of reproductive technology. She’s also covered immigration and national security.

Herbert serves as Managing Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, and has experience conducting research related to housing policy and urban development, both in the U.S. and abroad. A key focus of his research has been on the financial and demographic dimensions of homeownership, and the implications for housing policy. Having previously worked at the Center in the 1990s, Chris rejoined the Center in 2010 from Abt Associates, to serve as the Director of Research. In this role, he led the team responsible for producing the Center’s annual “State of the Nation’s Housing” and its biennial “America’s Rental Housing” reports. He was named Managing Director of the Center in 2015, and oversees the Center’s sponsored research programs, its local and national conferences, and symposia, as well as its student fellowship programs. He is also a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in the Department of Urban Planning and Design. Dr. Herbert is co-editor of A Shared Future: Fostering Communities of Inclusion in an Era of Inequality (2018) and Homeownership Built to Last: Balancing Access, Affordability, and Risk After the Housing Crisis (Brookings Institution Press, 2014). He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Freddie Mac.

Since early 2018, Jayachandran has led National Housing Trust, upholding a commitment to the preservation of home, opportunity, and dignity through affordable housing. In her role as CEO, Priya leads NHT’s engagement in public policy, lending, and energy sustainability. She previously led Housing Development at Volunteers of America (VOA), where she managed the strategic direction, acquisition, and development of rental housing for VOA. Jayachandran served in the Obama Administration at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) from 2014-2017, as Senior Policy Advisor, Director of the front office of Multifamily Housing, and ultimately, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs. As CEO of MassHousing, Kornegay combines listening, instinct, and opportunity to create strategies that advance critical community development goals. For more than a decade, Kornegay has held leadership positions in the nonprofit and government sectors including serving as the CEO of Urban Edge, a nationally recognized community developer, and as Undersecretary of the Commonwealth’s Department of Housing and Community Development. Since she joined MassHousing in 2018, the Agency has served exponentially more people, increased its net asset position by 23% and secured over $500 million in federal and state funds to create and expand housing production and preservation programs. She serves on the boards of the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) and the National Housing Trust (NHT).

McCue is a Senior Research Associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. His research covers a wide range of housing-related issues related to demographics, housing supply and demand, homeownership, housing affordability, and other topics. Most notably, he is the project manager and lead author of the Center’s annual “State of the Nation’s Housing” reports. He also created the Center’s latest household growth projections.

Palmer serves as Chairman and CEO of Taylor Morrison, a national homebuilder and developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Since 2007, Palmer has overseen an experienced leadership team in several key national homebuilding markets. With more than 30 years of cross-functional building experience, including leadership in land acquisition, sales and marketing, development and operations management, Palmer has led Taylor Morrison into the top ranks of America’s largest public homebuilders, following the company’s IPO in 2013. Under Palmer’s leadership, Taylor Morrison has been successful in creating trustworthy relationships with both internal and external customers. The company was named America’s Most Trusted Home Builder for the sixth consecutive year by Lifestory Research, recognized as BUILDER Magazine’s 2020 Builder of the Year, named one of the World’s Most Admired Companies by Fortune Magazine in 2019 and 2020, and recognized as a repeat member of Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index (GEI) for transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Palmer herself was also named a Top CEO in 2018 in the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards.

Click here for more information or to register for the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University’s “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024” Report.

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The post The Week Ahead: Unraveling the Nation’s Housing Crisis first appeared on The MortgagePoint.

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