Skip to main content

Housing

In Focus

Housing

In the average lifetime, a person spends 65% of their time inside their home. Harvard scholars are studying how to improve and evolve this critical part of our lives.

Last updated: September 2024

Rockshelters for the first Homo sapiens in Europe contained decorated walls, hearth-like structures, and other features that still make up our homes.

The future of homes

When we improve our homes we support our health, our wellbeing, and our planet.

Learn how to create a healthy home


Many of the strategies to make our buildings more resilient and to shrink their carbon footprints are well-known and well-tested.”

Holly Samuelson

Associate Professor of Architecture
Harvard Graduate School of Design

A woman stands outside in Cambridge

Sustainable materials offer a potential alternative to traditional choices like concrete, aluminum, and steel.

Planning and scheduling, thoughtful decision-making, and putting people first can make for a happy home.

As the population of older adults increases, so does the demand for affordable housing that is able to accommodate their changing needs.

Grants designed to improve housing can make homes more energy efficient and save money for low-income families.

Patients receiving hospital-level care from the comfort of their own homes is increasing across the U.S.

Rethinking housing

Harvard experts are exploring new places to build homes, different ways to create homes, and safe ways to repair homes.


Addressing affordability

Each year, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ “State of the Nation’s Housing” report explores ideas for addressing housing challenges.

Read the report for 2024


An animated map showing the increase of housing cost compared to income

Data visuals

Home prices have far outpaced income

In 2022, the median sale price for a single-family home in the U.S. was 5.6 times higher than the median household income, higher than at any point on record dating back to the early 1970s.

Explore the interactive map

Taking on homelessness

Harvard researchers are finding ways to address the many causes and consequences of homelessness across the country.


Howard Koh talking to a crowd

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Initiative on Health and Homelessness

Seeing a lack of adequate evidence on which systems, policies, and interventions can best address health equity in the unhoused population, the Harvard Chan School’s Howard Koh launched the Initiative on Health and Homelessness in October 2019.

Learn more about the initiative

Experts cite the complexity of the problem, which is rooted in poverty and lack of affordable housing, but also point to medical, psychiatric, and substance-use issues.

Homelessness spiked 12% in 2023, with more than 650,000 people unhoused, the highest number recorded since data collection began in 2007.

A series of tents on the sidewalk

Harvard Kennedy School

Homelessness Prevention & Rehousing Accelerator

In recognition of the urgent need to build sustainable systems for homelessness that incorporate prevention and expand housing options, four jurisdictions—Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, and Los Angeles—were awarded applied research support and technical assistance to explore targeted prevention and rehousing models.

Learn more about the program

American Indian and Alaska Native peoples are facing extreme levels of homelessness in many cities, especially in the southeast and west coast. Harvard’s Data-Smart City Solutions is exploring scalable solutions.

People experiencing homelessness seek medical attention for ailments directly attributable to their living conditions—and yet the health care system fails to address the underlying problem, which creates a cycle of hospitalizations.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought renewed attention to the lack of access to sanitary living conditions for unhoused people.

Supporting our community

From preservation and legal support to community service and affordable housing, Harvard hopes to make a difference in our community.