The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy is a joint center at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in N ...

and the NYU Wagner School of Public Service. The Furman Center was established in 1995 to create a place where people interested in

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

and

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

issues could turn to for factual, objective research and information. Since that time, the Furman Center has become an authority on such matters in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The Furman Center has a three-part mission, including providing objective academic research about

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether i ...

and

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

affairs, with a particular focus on

, promoting intense debate and productive discussion among elected, academic, and industry leaders, and presenting essential data and analysis about the state of New York City's housing and neighborhoods.

History

Michael H. Schill founded the center in 1995. Jay Furman endowed the center in 2000 and the center is renamed in his honor.

Research

The Furman Center is constantly updating its collection of original research on four core issues, including affordable housing, housing finance and foreclosures, land use regulation and neighborhood change.

Affordable housing

The Furman Center produces a report every year called State of New York City's Housing and Neighborhoods.

Land use

The Furman Center also developed a website called, CoreData.nyc which is an exhaustive planning and real estate resource that contains a database of affordable housing developments across the New York City, along with indicators from the US Census Bureau and other sources to help promote evidence and data-based conversation about housing and land-use issues.

Data services

NYCHANIS

New York City Housing and Neighborhood Information System
or NYCHANIS is a database for community development organizations, housing organizations, and the general public. It provides

Geographical Information Systems A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data. In a b ...

information about housing, neighborhood, and demographic conditions in New York City.

SHIP

Subsidized Housing Information Project
or SHIP is a database with extensive information on nearly 235,000 units of privately owned subsidized rental housing in New York City. SHIP was launched on September 8, 2011. The database details the four types of subsidies for rental units in New York City, including HUD Financing and Insurance, HUD Project-based Rental Assistance, the Mitchell-Lama program and

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC - often pronounced "lie-tech", Housing Credit) is a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in the United States for affordable housing investments. It was created under the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) and gives ...

(LIHTC) program. The database shows approximately 11,000 affordable-housing units which could possibly expire in the next few years without renewal because they are part of programs that no longer exist. The database is user-friendly, providing subsidy information to both policy makers and the public, especially New York tenants who reside in subsidized housing units. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) engaged in an ongoing, multi-year partnership with the Furman Center to develop SHIP. The database was launched on September 8, 2011.

Impact and recognition

The Furman Center and the Institute for Education and Social Policy (IESP) received one of nine grants provided through the

MacArthur Foundation The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is a private foundation that makes grants and impact investments to support non-profit organizations in approximately 50 countries around the world. It has an endowment of $7.0 billion and p ...

's $25 million initiative, How Housing Matters to Families and Communities.

References

External links

Furman Center WebsitePlanNYCNYCHANISSHIP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furman Center For Real Estate And Urban Policy New York University 1995 establishments in New York City Research institutes in New York (state) New York University research institutes Research institutes established in 1995