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Commentary
To Help African Americans Gain Generational Wealth, Look to the Housing Market
African American families have significantly less wealth than White families, even after reaching the middle class. Home ownership is, for the vast majority of Americans, the primary vehicle for accruing wealth, and passing it down through generations. This is a crucial time for policymakers to consider policies that focus on improving home ownership rates for African Americans.
Dec 7, 2022
Essay
How New York City Can Make Housing More Affordable
With few vacancies, rents in New York City have become some of the most unaffordable in the world. People with subsidized housing vouchers often have nowhere to go to use them. Housing production is a critical part of any solution to housing affordability—in New York and elsewhere.
Nov 10, 2023

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Periodical
RAND Review: November-December 2023
Features explore the use of psychedelics to address depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders among veterans, and the prevalence of food insecurity among active-duty military families and veterans.
Nov 9, 2023
Blog
Maui Wildires, Regulating AI, Ukraine's Civilian Resistance: RAND Weekly Recaps
This weekly recap focuses on the invisible damage of Maui’s wildfires, making the artificial intelligence supply chain safer, how Ukrainian civilians resist Russia, and more.
Aug 18, 2023
News Release
Six Strategies to Boost Affordable Housing in NY Could Aid Creation of 300,000 New Units Over a Decade
Six policies aimed boosting residential housing construction in New York City could spark the production of roughly 300,000 additional new housing units over a decade.
Aug 16, 2023
Report
How to Support Housing Affordability in New York City
The root problem behind New York City's housing affordability crisis is that housing production has not kept pace with the growing demand to live there. Six policy reforms for increasing production could lead to about 300,000 new housing units over a decade.
Aug 16, 2023
Blog
The Wagner Revolt, Housing in L.A., Cyberstalking: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the Wagner Group's power play against Russian leadership, how Truth Decay affects national security, why the U.S. legal system is underprepared to handle cyberstalking cases, and more.
Jun 30, 2023
Commentary
Will L.A. Have an Office Apocalypse or Housing Boom? Tax Breaks Might Make the Difference
Facing a persistent housing crisis, Los Angeles is doubling down on converting unused commercial buildings into residential properties. But high interest rates make conversions more costly to finance. To mitigate this risk, L.A. might consider fiscal policy that would tip the scale more convincingly toward adaptive reuse.
Jun 23, 2023
Periodical
RAND Review: March-April 2023
The cover story describes how K-12 schools can build trust with students to increase threat reporting and strengthen school safety. The Q&A with Ashley Woo explores how restrictions on race- and gender-related topics are affecting teachers.
Mar 22, 2023
Commentary
Santa Monica's 'Builder's Remedy' Experiment Holds Lessons for the Region
More than 124 municipalities across Southern California are struggling to meet their state housing allocations. When Santa Monica fell out of compliance with state housing law, this triggered what is known as the ”builder's remedy“ and created a revealing natural experiment.
Nov 8, 2022
Commentary
How Can Commercial Buildings Become Needed Housing?
Adaptive reuse has tremendous promise for making a dent in Southern California's housing shortage, but realizing its full potential will require thoughtful and timely policymaking.
Jun 6, 2022
Commentary
California Needs 1.2 Million New Homes. How Will It Get There?
Voluntary incentives foster increased production of affordable housing, while mandates alone increase the cost of producing housing, dampening both market-rate and affordable housing production. It is well past time to acknowledge the evidence and focus on the adoption of voluntary programs that incentivize the rapid creation of dense, infill housing available at both affordable and market rents.
May 13, 2022
Blog
Employing Insurgency in Ukraine, U.S. Hospital Prices, Reaching the Middle Class: RAND Weekly Recap
This week, we discuss the potential value of an insurgent campaign in Ukraine; addressing L.A.’s housing crisis; lessons from the 2017 battle for Raqqa; a look at U.S. hospital prices; Americans’ options for reaching the middle class; and how to help single mothers get out of poverty.
Apr 8, 2022
News Release
Repurposing Commercial Buildings Could Help L.A. Meet Housing Needs, but Financial, Regulatory Barriers Exist
Repurposing underutilized commercial properties such as hotel/motels and vacant office buildings could provide about 9% to 14% of the housing Los Angeles County needs to produce over the next eight years.
Apr 6, 2022
Report
Could Adaptive Reuse of Commercial Buildings Address L.A.'s Housing Crisis?
Repurposing underutilized commercial properties could provide 9 to 14 percent of the total housing Los Angeles County needs to produce over the next eight years. Conversion of hotels/motels is feasible, but reuse of office buildings depends on area-specific real estate prices and the size of new units.
Apr 6, 2022
Commentary
Transforming the Housing Choice Voucher System in California
What are the impacts and shortcomings of the housing choice voucher (HCV) program, and what are the potential effects of reforms to stabilize access to affordable housing for the most-vulnerable Californians?
Sep 29, 2021
News Release
Labor Regulations Attached to Proposition HHH Lowered Los Angeles Housing Production Through Increased Costs, Developer ...
A project labor agreement requiring that a primarily union workforce be used for housing projects for the homeless in Los Angeles appears to be one reason that the city's $1.2 billion Proposition HHH ballot initiative is falling short of its goal.
Aug 2, 2021
Report
Effects of Project Labor Agreements on Affordable Housing Production
A project labor agreement requiring that a primarily union workforce be used for housing projects for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles appears to be one reason that the city's $1.2 billion Proposition HHH ballot initiative is falling short of its goal.
Aug 2, 2021
Journal Article
Rental Eviction and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Averting a Looming Crisis
This report recommends that the Executive Office of the President of the United States should consider establishing a task force to prevent rental evictions and mitigate housing instability caused by the pandemic.
Jun 29, 2021
Content
RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness
The Center on Housing and Homelessness works to address the challenges of providing affordable housing solutions and better understand and serve the needs of people experiencing homelessness.
Mar 25, 2021

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RAND Social and Economic Well-Being

Researcher Spotlight

Jonah Kushner

Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND

Jonah Kushner is a Ph.D. student at the Pardee RAND Graduate School and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. His interests include workforce development and the future of work; affordable housing and homelessness; and health care delivery, health care payment, and social determinants of health.
Jason M. Ward

Co-Director, RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness

Jason Ward is an economist at RAND, co-director of the RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His work uses the tools of applied microeconomics to study housing and homelessness policy, labor markets, and education and health policy. Recent…

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