Housing Solutions Lab
Helping cities plan, launch, and evaluate equitable housing policies
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Our Research and Partnerships
The Lab conducts rigorous housing policy research. We partner with cities, housing authorities, housing providers, and others to analyze the innovative work they are doing and to co-design and study new pilot programs. The Lab also supports and amplifies emerging scholarship on housing innovations in small and midsize cities.
Public Housing Authority Community of Practice
In 2023, the Housing Solutions Lab launched a Community of Practice, convening a diverse group of public housing agencies and authorities (PHAs) interested in developing a research agenda and partnering with us to explore and evaluate innovative practices.
PHAs in small and midsize cities in particular may be innovating in ways that are understudied. The Lab can bring rich administrative data, analytical expertise, best practice research, and peer knowledge-sharing to bear in helping PHAs access the evidence they need to adopt and assess new policies.
Supporting research on housing innovation for small and midsize cities
The Housing Solutions Lab also supports external research on housing policy innovation in small and midsize cities through competitive awards, policy and methods expertise, and assistance in disseminating findings to policy audiences. Special priority is given to research on innovations that promise to reduce racial and ethnic disparities and to early-career and nontraditional scholarship.
In 2022, the Lab awarded $75,000 in grants to three research teams focusing on community land trusts in immigrant gateways, solutions for youth homelessness in rural communities, and remote sensing as a tool for code enforcement. The Lab will be releasing periodic new calls for research proposals and invites innovative housing policy research proposals at any time. We seek to be a resource in connecting researchers with practitioners and vice versa.
Comparative research in small and midsize cities
The Housing Solutions Lab’s partnerships with cities across the country provide a unique opportunity to understand how the design and implementation of programs and policies vary across space, and how this variation relates to outcomes. By studying different approaches to creating a rental registry, remediating lead in housing, conducting community outreach, and other topics of vital importance to local housing practitioners, the Lab aims to learn from cities about what works and why. If your city, town, or county has implemented a policy or program you think is worth studying, Ask the Lab.
Our research partnerships
The Lab partners with local governments and nonprofit leaders to better understand housing policies and programs through original, empirical research.
