Housing: the more we know, the more we need to know and do

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present to and hear presentations from an impressive group of researchers, policy makers, and practitioners at the Housing Policy Debate's inaugural housing symposium in Philadelphia on June 25-26, 2026 hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. I was invited to present on behalf of my co-authors (Vinit Mukhija, UCLA; Alycia Cheng, USC; Melany de La Cruz-Viesca, UCLA) on our ongoing project on housing precarity among Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in California. See previous blog for an overview of this work.

As you can see from the agenda, the presenters, moderators, and discussants were an amazing group of people who care deeply about housing and the people affected by policies, the economy, and social issues. There were dual tracks throughout the two days (and laptops were strongly discouraged to promote listening and engagement!), so I was able to attend half of the sessions, which were all super informative, sometimes alarming, and always insightful.

A few general takeaways:

• housing is more than the bricks and mortar of the built housing unit; for example, we heard about insurance and how the uncertainty and rising costs play a huge role in the total cost of housing -- given the stories I have heard from homeowners throughout California about non-renewals and inability to obtain private market insurance, the conclusions about the state funded insurance of last resort (in California, the California FAIR Plan) and the long term use of this coverage for many households was both confirming but also alarming

• housing is also about the family and care networks that support aging adults and those with vulnerable income streams; several presentations highlighted federal and state supports, the needs of particular populations, such as aging adults and veterans, and the ways in which policy implementation (e.g., flexible and earlier intervention) may have substantial effects on obtaining and keeping permanent housing

• data are fragmented and many of the studies presented made use of varying data sources, requiring sophisticated techniques for consolidating data and careful statistical and econometric methods for ensuring valid and rigorous results

• definitions of specific housing and associated conditions, such as homelessness, vary by federal agency; these different definitions are associated with the particular goals of the agency; unifying definitions (e.g., homelessness across US HUD, VA, HHS, and state departments of education) can be challenging because of resource constraints and intra- and inter-governmental coordination issues

I found the discussants for the most part incisive, supportive, and constructive and the post-presentation discussions to be enlightening. As the symposium was an opportunity for researchers and teams to obtain feedback before submitting manuscripts for a special issue of Housing Policy Debate, this was a really wonderful opportunity to learn more about projects across the US and how there is such a strong community of researchers and practitioners committed to improving housing outcomes for so many. I left the symposium energized, optimistic (even with ongoing political uncertainty), and happy to have met (and reconnected) so many interesting people doing such important work.

Thank you to Vincent Reina, and the entire team at Housing Policy Debate, and the Philadephia Fed for such a well organized symposium and the opportunity to present. The photos are of the built environment in Philadelphia as I walked from the Philadelphia Fed back to my hotel; we were in between two World Cup games, so though I did not capture any of them in the images, there were people in soccer/futbol jerseys interspersed with people in their daily routines, a vibrant downtown.