According to Grogan, the committee will serve to oversee and monitor the loan program, evaluate grant applications and mobilize University resources in support of affordable housing.

Grogan said he hopes the initiative will spark an interest in housing research among Harvard faculty.

"In general, I think this kind of problem has been understudied in universities around the country," he said.

Easing the Housing Crunch

By providing money for affordable housing, Harvard is seeking to alleviate one of the major problems facing Cambridge and Boston.

Since rent control was abolished in 1994, Cambridge has lost about 16,000 price-controlled units and Boston has lost about 7,000 units. This, combined with cutbacks in federal and state funding, has contributed to gentrification in some areas and an affordable housing shortage in the metropolitan area.

"For [Harvard] to create more housing, that means that more families are going to be able to stay in Cambridge," said Toy Lim, lead housing organizer for the Eviction Free Zone, a Cambridge housing advocacy group.

Harvard has taken other steps to improve the housing situation in the past year. In August the University pledged to house more students on the Business School campus, easing the Cambridge housing crunch, and in September the University transferred ownership of a Mission Hill apartment complex to its tenant organization.