ULI and The MacArthur Foundation Launch Online Portal

Washington, D.C.—The Urban Land Institute (ULI), with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, has launched How Housing Matters, an interdisciplinary online portal focused on housing’s role in individual and neighborhood well being. The portal offers up-to-date, easily searchable research and news connecting housing with a broad range of topics. The new knowledge-sharing tool emphasizes the connection between housing and better educational opportunities and outcomes for children; stronger foundations for family and community economic stability; and healthier, more productive individuals and neighborhoods.

The portal (www.howhousingmatters.org), which is being managed by the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing, is designed to serve as a user gateway, integrating policy papers, reports and current news articles, as well as original stories that compellingly illustrate research and data, inform collaboration, and inspire action.

The MacArthur Foundation has invested over $25 million in research projects exploring how decent, stable, affordable housing may lead to strong families and vibrant communities; the research will produce findings through 2017. This body of work, as well as research funded by others, is showing that housing has value beyond the provision of shelter: it improves school performance, diminishes health problems for both children and adults, and decreases psychological stress—among other benefits.

In addition to ULI, other expert resources including the National Housing Conference, Urban Institute and Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies will provide content for the site. How Housing Matters is a resource for:

• Housing industry participants looking for practical information on building and improving housing that serves as a platform for family and community success;
• Professionals in education, economic development, and public health who are interested in collaborative approaches to address individual and community needs;
• Policymakers seeking the most compelling data and analyses that “connect the dots” between housing and educational success, economic prosperity, and public health;
• Advocates making the case for housing’s essential role in supporting individual and community well-being; and
• Researchers working to deepen the understanding of the interrelationship of housing with other pivotal factors in people’s lives.

In 2014, the MacArthur Foundation selected the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing to create and curate the new online portal to serve as the central source for the growing body of research on how housing matters to other pivotal drivers of individual and community success. The portal is both a clearinghouse for continuing research and a platform for engaging practitioners, policymakers and researchers across a range of fields committed to using evidence and interdisciplinary approaches to create higher quality housing and improved outcomes. The editorial advisory board for the website includes nationally renowned experts in education, health, aging, asset building, economics and housing.

Through How Housing Matters, ULI and the MacArthur Foundation are aiming to encourage practice and policy innovations that facilitate collaboration among private- and public-sector leaders in housing, education, health and economic development to better and more cost effectively help families lead healthy, successful lives.