Pioneer Institute, Howard Husock, Author at Pioneer Institute

About Howard Husock

Howard Husock is Director of Case Studies in Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government and a member of the research staff of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, at Harvard University. Mr. Husock is also a contributing editor for City Journal. His research focuses on housing and social policy, and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Public Interest, The Wilson Quarterly, American Enterprise and Policy Review. He is author of Repairing the Ladder: Toward a New Housing Policy Paradigm (Reason Foundation, 1996).

Entries by Howard Husock

Build More or Manage Better? Subsidized Housing in Massachusetts

August 1, 2001/by Howard Husock

A recent Pioneer Forum titled “Build More or Manage Better? Subsidized Housing in Massachusetts” marked the release of a Pioneer White Paper of the same title. The paper’s co-author, Howard Husock, director of case studies at Harvard’s Kennedy School Government, summarized the study’s findings. Commentary was provided by Thomas M. Finneran, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives; Aaron Gornstein, executive director of Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association; and Sandra B. Henriquez, administrator of the Boston Housing Authority. The remarks of each are excerpted below.

Build More or Manage Better? Public Housing in Boston and Massachusetts

July 1, 2001/by Howard Husock

Increases in the price of rental housing in Massachusetts during the economic boom of the 1990s have spurred a push to construct additional subsidized housing.1 This report presents alternatives to construction that could significantly increase the available supply of subsidized housing. The study compares public and subsidized housing in Boston and the Commonwealth to other cities and states in terms of subsidized units per capita, vacancy rates, overhousing rates, and average tenancy tenure. The data indicate opportunities for both state and city housing authorities to manage more effectively the existing stock of public and subsidized housing.