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Rental Affordability Challenge

2021-04-05 · 04:13 UTC ·Ryan Smith ·1 min read

Brief

Chris Herbert, Managing Director of Harvard JCHS, delivers a presentation on MOD X (published 2021-04-05) explaining that U.S. housing cost growth stems from quality upgrades, rising land values, and material and labor constraints. He emphasizes the sector’s stagnant productivity and recommends offsite and modular construction as a scalable solution to lower costs.

Why it matters

Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS), pinpoints the main drivers of rising U.S. housing costs as higher housing quality, escalating land prices, and constrained material supply and construction workforce (video published 2021-04-05).

Key details

  • Herbert highlights that construction productivity lags behind other industries and advocates wider adoption of offsite and modular construction to boost productivity and relieve supply-driven cost pressures.
Source evidence

MOD X welcomes Chris Herbert, Managing Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. He discusses the causes of the cost of housing increase in the US, with an emphasis on quality increases, land pricing, and difficulty with available material supply and workforce labor. He ends with pointing out the lack of productivity in construction that other industries have realized in order to overcome cost of supply barriers and how offsite and modular can be leveraged to achieve that productivity.

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies advances understanding of housing issues and informs policy. Through its research, education, and public outreach programs, the Center helps leaders in government, business, and the civic sectors make decisions that effectively address the needs of cities and communities. More on Harvard JCHS at: https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/

Channel: Ryan Smith
Published: 2021-04-05
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ff7_5GzeYq8