The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) are pleased to announce that Vincent Reina has been named the inaugural Nicolas P. and Joan B. Retsinas Faculty Director of the JCHS and Professor in Practice at the GSD. In these roles, Reina will join the senior faculty of the GSD, and his appointment will take effect on January 1, 2027. The Retsinas Directorship was established to honor Nicolas (MCP ’71) and Joan (GSD ’69) Retsinas and Nic’s vision of inclusive and equitable housing programs and policy. Founded in 1959, the Joint Center for Housing Studies is jointly affiliated with the GSD and the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS).
Reina, a leading national housing scholar, comes to Harvard from the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently a Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and the Founder and Faculty Director of the Housing Initiative at Penn. His work at Penn focused on advancing effective housing policy through rigorous research and close partnerships with cities, states, and national organizations. From 2022 to 2024, he served on the White House Domestic Policy Council as Senior Advisor for Housing and Urban Policy.
“Vincent’s federal experience complements his extensive work with local governments and community-based organizations, and we’re delighted to welcome someone who moves so fluidly across research, policy, and design practice,” said Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at the GSD. “He has spent his career producing and translating rigorous evidence into policies that expand access to affordable homes, and he brings exactly the kind of interdisciplinary, collaborative leadership the Joint Center for Housing Studies was built on. I’m confident he will sharpen its impact on housing research, policy, and practice for years to come.”
“This was a highly competitive search, with a number of exceptional candidates who would have served the Center well,” said Rachel Weber, chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design, Emma Bloomberg Professor of Urban Planning, and chair of the search committee. “Vincent’s analytical rigor, policy experience, and collaborative ethos made him especially well suited to the Center’s future direction.”
Reina is also Editor in Chief of the journal Housing Policy Debate and has held roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, NYU Furman Center, Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern California, an MBA from New York University, an MSc in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, and a BS in Urban Studies from Cornell University.
“For nearly seventy years, the Joint Center for Housing Studies has been the nation’s premier institution for housing research. It’s the place where rigorous data meets real-world housing policy, and I’m honored to carry that tradition forward,” said Reina. “Nic and his successors built the Center around the idea that high-quality research and close partnerships with policymakers and the people on the ground doing the work can result in much-needed housing solutions. That’s the kind of work I’ve tried to do throughout my career, and I couldn’t be more excited to do it here, alongside a talented team that I’ve long admired.”
The Joint Center for Housing Studies has been a trusted source of research and analysis for nearly seven decades, helping government, business, and civic leaders understand and respond to the nation’s housing challenges. Nicolas Retsinas directed the Center from 1998 to 2010 and was a Senior Lecturer in Real Estate at the Harvard Business School from 2010 to 2019. His leadership shaped much of the Center’s modern research agenda, and he was honored with numerous awards for his contributions to the housing field, including his induction into the National Housing Hall of Fame in 2003.
The endowed fund that supports the Retsinas Directorship was established primarily through a generous bequest made by Nicolas and Joan Retsinas. Nearly 50 other supporters, including members of the Center’s Policy Advisory Board, made additional gifts in his honor. “Housing has always been about more than shelter. It’s about giving families a stable foundation on which to build a life,” said Joan Retsinas. “Nic devoted his career to that idea, and it’s deeply gratifying to see the Center he shaped continue to carry it forward under such capable leadership.”
