Affordable housing programs
The high cost of housing has long been one of the Boston area’s most intractable problems. High housing costs undermine the region’s ability to attract and retain the talented people on whom its economy depends – erode the living standards of working families – and impose a particularly heavy burden on low-income households and the elderly.
Harvard supports local efforts to address the problem of affordable housing in several ways. Harvard students are also engaged in efforts to address local housing problems.
Several research centers at Harvard have also worked with local officials, community organizations and others in the Boston area to analyze problems related to affordable housing, and to develop new solutions. For example, the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston has done extensive research on the impact of local land use regulations on housing costs.
Here are a few examples of the 8 programs that address Affordable housing
This annual charity tournament is organized by Harvard’s Office of Government, Community and Public Affairs, University Planning Office, Harvard Real Estate Services, and the City of Cambridge to benefit the Cambridge Fund for Housing the Homeless, which provides direct assistance to individuals and families seeking stable housing. Last year one hundred and forty golfers participated in the event.
In 1999, Harvard launched a $21 million affordable housing initiative that formed a link between Harvard's intellectual and fiscal capital to fund and support Cambridge and Boston nonprofit agencies in their efforts to ease the affordable housing shortage.
Harvard Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit "housing ministry" that seeks to eliminate homelessness and poverty housing. Working with partner families, Habitat volunteers build and/or renovate simple, decent houses that are then sold to families through affordable loans. Serving as a link between Harvard students and Habitat for Humanity chapters in Eastern Massachusetts, the group also works to raise awareness of housing issues, combining forces with other Boston-area chapters, and sharing ideas and experiences with college chapters around the world.