The center was formed in 1959 under the leadership of
Martin Meyerson, its founding director, as the
Harvard–MIT Joint Center for Urban Studies, to address intellectual and policy issues confronting a nation experiencing widespread demographic, economic and social change. Its research was based on the premise that the resolution of these issues called for imaginative interdisciplinary approaches to the study of urban problems and issues, and required cooperation among universities, government and industry. In 1989, a split was made from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and became affiliated solely with Harvard's
Graduate School of Design and
Harvard Kennedy School. The center consolidated the focus on housing that had emerged during the 1970s, and changed the ending of its name from Urban Studies to Housing Studies. An annual lecture in honor of
John Thomas Dunlop is administered by the Joint Center for Housing Studies. Notable keynotes include:
Herbert Kohler Jr. (2001);
Angelo Mozilo (2002);
Henry Cisneros (2003);
Kim B. Clark (2004);
Jack Kemp (2005);
Lewis Ranieri (2008);
Shaun Donovan (2009);
Marc Morial (2010);
Jonathan Reckford (2011);
Mel Martínez (2012);
Ron Terwilliger (2013);
Jonathan F. P. Rose (2014);
Marty Walsh (2017);
Raphael Bostic (2018);
Kim Dowdell (2019); and
Michael Maltzan (2020). ==Directors==