New York University Furman Center

New York University Furman Center
Name	Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy
Formation	1995
Founder	New York University
Type	Research center
Headquarters	New York City
Location	Brooklyn, Manhattan
Leader title	Director
Leader name	Vicki Been
Affiliations	New York University School of Law, Wagner Graduate School of Public Service

Contents

New York University Furman Center

The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy is a research center at New York University that studies housing, land use, and urban policy in New York City and beyond. The center brings together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from institutions such as Columbia University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, and University of Pennsylvania to analyze data, assess programs, and inform debates about development, affordability, and neighborhood change. Its work intersects with stakeholders including United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mayor of New York City, New York City Council, New York State, and community organizations like ACORN, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and Enterprise Community Partners.

History

Founded in 1995 within New York University, the center emerged amid policy conversations involving figures from Bill Clinton administration housing initiatives, urban research led by faculty from John F. Kennedy School of Government, and nonprofit practice from groups such as Enterprise Community Partners and Community Development Corporation of New York. Early projects drew on comparative studies with programs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, and collaborated with agencies including Gale A. Brewer's Manhattan offices and planning teams aligned with Robert Moses-era debates. Over time the center expanded collaborations to include scholars associated with Brookings Institution, Urban Institute, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, RAND Corporation, Urban Land Institute, and Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

The Furman Center’s mission centers on rigorous analysis of housing affordability, land use regulation, and neighborhood dynamics, informing policy discussions involving actors like Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams, and officials at Housing Authority of the City of New York and New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Research areas include affordable housing finance tied to instruments used by Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac; displacement and gentrification studies linked to neighborhoods such as Harlem, Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Lower East Side; and regulatory analysis related to Zoning Resolution of the City of New York and land use processes like ULURP. The center’s empirical work often references methodological advances from scholars connected to National Bureau of Economic Research, American Economic Association, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, and American Statistical Association.

Programs include annual reports, data tools, and training programs that engage policymakers from the offices of Andrew Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, and local agencies in cities like Seattle, Austin, Denver, Atlanta, and Miami. Initiatives span analysis of rent regulation reform debates involving stakeholders such as Tenant Protection Unit (TPU), impact evaluations of inclusionary zoning programs employed in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and technical assistance for community development corporations modeled on Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and Brownsville Partnership. The center hosts convenings with organizations like Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Charles H. Revson Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and professional groups such as American Planning Association and Real Estate Board of New York.

The Furman Center partners with academic units including New York University School of Law, NYU Wagner, NYU Marron Institute, and external partners such as Community Service Society of New York, Citizens Housing and Planning Council, New York University Langone Health, and Robin Hood Foundation. Funding has come from philanthropic sources like Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Surdna Foundation, and corporate supporters in the real estate sector including Related Companies, Silverstein Properties, and Tishman Speyer. The center has collaborated on grants with federal programs administered by United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and research contracts with municipal entities such as New York City Economic Development Corporation and New York City Mayor's Office of Housing Recovery Operations.

The Furman Center produces influential publications including annual reports on rent stabilization and housing supply used by policymakers from New York City Council Speaker offices, white papers cited in testimony before United States Congress committees, and academic articles published by scholars affiliated with Journal of Urban Economics, Housing Policy Debate, City & Community, Urban Affairs Review, and Regional Science and Urban Economics. Its data tools inform advocacy from groups such as Make the Road New York, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and New York Immigration Coalition, and influence municipal policy decisions regarding zoning changes in neighborhoods like East Harlem and Gowanus. Scholars associated with the center have testified alongside experts from Rutgers University, CUNY, Cornell University, and Syracuse University in hearings on homelessness, landlord-tenant law, and preservation of affordable housing.

Located in Manhattan on the New York University campus, with activities extending to research sites across Brooklyn and other boroughs such as The Bronx and Staten Island, the center leverages NYU facilities near institutions like New York Public Library, Columbia University Medical Center, and Metropolitan Museum of Art for events and collaborations. It maintains data repositories and offices that engage visiting scholars from London School of Economics, University of Oxford, University of Toronto, University College London, and research fellows from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School and hosts conferences drawing participants from World Bank, International Monetary Fund, OECD, and municipal delegations from Toronto, Vancouver, London, and Paris.

Category:New York University Category:Urban studies and planning research institutes