Housing & communities
Affordability, neighborhoods, shared places and access to a stable home.
Can Community Solar Help Address Renters' Energy Choices?
Community solar can give renters a practical route to participate in solar power and may reduce electricity costs, but access depends on local programs and clear consumer protections. It does not guarantee lower rent or solve housing affordability.
Renting Versus Owning in Today's America: A Comparison Beyond Monthly Payments
An evidence-based comparison of renting and owning that looks beyond monthly payments to flexibility, household costs, financial exposure, and the limits of broad national statistics.
Urban Trees and Housing: Why Shade Is a Neighborhood Issue
An explanatory essay on how vegetation can reduce heat exposure, why shade in shared residential spaces matters, and what national housing-cost data can—and cannot—show about access to useful public space.
Should Affordable Housing Be Treated as Essential Infrastructure?
An evidence-based argument that affordable housing should be treated as essential infrastructure, with public investment tied to access, affordability, and long-term accountability.
Young Adults and the Cost of Establishing an Independent Household
An explanatory essay on how U.S. rents, earnings, and financial buffers interact as young adults establish independent households, with attention to disparities and limits in interpreting national survey evidence.
Why Housing Policy Should Consider Access to Transportation
Housing affordability depends on more than rent. A home’s location affects the time, cost, and reliability of reaching work and essential services, so policy should assess access alongside housing costs while recognizing that local travel needs differ.
Housing Insecurity and Financial Resilience Are Connected
An explanatory essay on how housing costs can narrow households’ capacity to manage financial shocks, while recognizing differences among households and limits in the evidence.
Why a Cheap Rent Can Still Mean an Unaffordable Home
Advertised rent is only one part of housing affordability. A household’s income, utility costs, transportation needs, and access to practical consumer protections all shape what it can afford.
Housing Affordability in the United States: Why Rent Burden Matters
Rent burden is a useful measure of housing affordability because it shows how much household income goes toward housing. Census Bureau data reveal the scale and unequal distribution of that pressure, while the measure’s limits show why a percentage cannot capture every household’s choices or explain the causes of high costs.
What Counts as a Housing Shortage?
A housing shortage cannot be measured by counting empty homes alone. Vacancy, affordability, and suitability answer different questions, so a useful assessment must consider all three.
Why Rent-Burden Statistics Need Both Income and Housing Costs
A developed explanation of what rent-burden statistics measure, what their 30% threshold can reveal, and what it leaves out.
Why National Housing Averages Can Hide Local Problems
National vacancy and affordability statistics are useful indicators, but they cannot show every community’s housing conditions. Local costs, household differences, and access to practical solutions matter.