HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS RESOURCES

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
CBPP conducts research and analysis to inform debates on fiscal policy and to help ensure that the needs of low-income families and individuals are considered.

"A Critical Moment: Child & Youth Homelessness in Our Nation's Schools," 2010
First Focus
First Focus' report, "A Critical Moment: Child and Youth Homelessness," finds that the economic downturn has placed more families in a precarious position. Federal data shows that the number of homeless children in public schools has increased 41 percent over the past two school years.

 

Nearly one decade after the Chicago Housing Authority started to relocate families from the distressed Madden/Wells community, most former residents live in better housing and safer neighborhoods. According to this series of seven research briefs by the Urban Institute, serious challenges remain for the families in the study. Poor health and persistent poverty has been difficult to overcome. However, most of the families are living in considerably better circumstances and enjoying a higher quality of life.
 

Joint Center for Housing Studies
Harvard University
The Harvard University center analyzes the dynamic relationships between housing markets and economic, demographic and social trends, providing the knowledge to develop effective policies and strategies. Established in 1959, it’s a collaborative unit affiliated with the Harvard Design School and the Kennedy School of Government. Contact: Media relations, 617.495.7908; angela_flynn@harvard.edu

 

Population Division
U.S. Census Bureau
The bureau’s population division disseminates data on households and families in the annual Current Population Survey, released in March. The American Community Survey covers the nation as well as states, large counties and cities. The bureau also estimates net international migration for the country, states and counties. The fertility and family statistics branch, at the Suitland, Md., headquarters, provides data on childbearing and more. Contact: Public information office, 301.763.3030; pio@census.gov
 

 

"Rural America at a Glance"
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
“Rural America At A Glance” is a series of brochures that highlight the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing policies and programs to assist rural areas. Focuses include the labor market, housing, population, unemployment, industry, race, education, economy, income and poverty trends in rural areas.

 

National Center for Children in Poverty
Mailman School of Public Health

Columbia University
Founded in 1989 at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the nonprofit research center promotes the economic security, health and well-being of America’s low-income families and children. It pushes family-oriented solutions at the state and national levels, producing reports and fact sheets that highlight strategies to end child poverty. (See its fact sheet, “Basic Facts About Low-Income Children in the United States") Contact: Morris Ardoin, communications director, 646.284.9616; ardoin@nccp.org

 

This report explores unemployment and public assistance programs in New York City. With a 10.6 percent unemployment rate and rising welfare rolls, the authors predict that the numbers of families and children living in homeless shelters will increase to 10,600 and 16,900 -- increases of 13 and 15 percent, respectively -- by the end of Fiscal Year 2010.
 

 

U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
The bureau’s population division disseminates data on households and families in the annual Current Population Survey, released in March. The American Community Survey covers the nation as well as states, large counties and cities. The bureau also estimates net international migration for the country, states and counties. The fertility and family statistics branch provides data on childbearing and more.
 

 

 

Alan Barber, Communications Coordinator
Center for Economic and Policy Research
1611 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
202.293.5380 x115; barber@cepr.net
Through research and public education, the nonprofit center promotes democratic debate on economic and social issues. Shawn Fremstad co-directs its Inclusion initiative, which develops policy ideas to foster social and economic inclusion. It focuses on improving job quality, wages and benefits.
 

Michelle Bazie, Deputy Director of Communications
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
820 1st St. NE, Suite 510
Washington, DC 20002

202.408.1080; bazie@cbpp.org
CBPP conducts research and analysis to inform debates on fiscal policy and to help ensure that the needs of low-income families and individuals are considered. It supports increasing access to supports such as Medicaid, children’s health insurance, food stamps and housing assistance. Senior researcher Arloc Sherman studies the causes and consequences of family and child poverty, trends in income inequality, policies that improve child well-being, and welfare reform. The center publishes state-by-state data on fiscal policies.
 

Xavier de Souza Briggs, Director and Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Planning
The Community Problem-Solving Project
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave., Room 9-521
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.253.7956; xbriggs@mit.edu
Briggs is an expert on urban neighborhoods as contexts for children and families, race and inequality, housing and community development policy, and local politics and governance.
 

Janice Cooper, Ph.D., Interim Director
National Center for Children in Poverty
215 W. 125th St., 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10027
646.284.9600; cooper@nccp.org
NCCP is dedicated to promoting the economic security, health, and wellbeing of America’s low-income families and children. It seeks to advance family-oriented solutions and the strategic use of public resources at the state and national levels to ensure positive outcomes for the next generation.
 

Amy Cox Ph.D., Social Scientist
RAND Corporation
1776 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90407
310.393.0411, Ext. 6718; cox@rand.org
Cox's research focuses on the relationships among social inequalities, labor markets/social systems, and demographic phenomena such as economic well being, welfare use and family processes. Cox's other ongoing research includes studies of racial-ethnic differences in social support and exchange among family members, the relationship between declines in childbearing and declines in welfare participation.
 

Greg Duncan Ph.D., Professor of Education
Department of Education
University of California, Irvine
Berkeley Place 2062
Irvine, CA 92697-5500
949.824.7831; gduncan@uci.edu
Duncan is an expert on family and neighborhood poverty and child development. He formerly worked at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. Dunca's research focuses on the effects of poverty on families and neighborhoods, and the intergenerational consequences of welfare use. He has investigated the concentration of persistent poverty among certain population subgroups, in particular African-Americans. Duncan and colleagues also have examined the life consequences for adolescents in families that receive at least partial income from welfare. He has written extensively about income distribution, child poverty and welfare dependence and is the co-author or co-editor of several books. A former principal investigator of the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Duncan was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001. He was elected president of the Population Association of America for 2008 and president of the Society for Research in Child Development for 2009-2011.
 

Kathryn Edin Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy and Management
Kennedy School
Harvard University
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 19104
617.495.2067; kathy_edin@ksg.harvard.edu
Edin's research focuses on urban poverty and family life, social welfare, public housing, child support and nonmarital childbearing. Her most recent publication (with Paula England), Unmarried Couples with Children, is an analysis of a four-year study of 50 unmarried couples who shared a birth in 2000. Previous publications include the results of a six-year ethnographic study in eight Philadelphia neighborhoods, Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage (with Maria J. Kefalas), and Making Ends Meet: How Low Income Single Mothers Survive Welfare and Low Wage Work (with Laura Lein). Her next book is tentatively titled Marginal Men: Fatherhood in the Lives of Low Income Unmarried Men (with Timothy Nelson and Laura Lein). Current projects include a study nested within the interim evaluation of the Moving to Opportunity Experiment, an evaluation of the Gautreaux Two housing mobility program in Chicago, and Investing in Enduring Resources with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a study of EITC allocation among low-income households in Boston and Central Illinois.

 

Barbara Ferman Ph.D., Director
University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia
Temple University
428 Gladfelter Hall
1115 W. Berks St.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
215.204.6276; bferman@temple.edu
Ferman, a political science professor and Brooklyn native, primarily focuses on urban politics. Her interest in practical applications led her, in 1997, to start the UCCP, which leverages the university's research and pedagogical expertise for larger community ends. With an emphasis on community development and youth civic engagement, the UCCP conducts direct programming, capacity building and applied research in collaboration with community-based and other nonprofit organizations. It addresses issues of housing and community development, neighborhood politics and community organizations, and political leadership and urban public policy.

 

Lynn Karoly Ph.D., Senior Economist
Center for the Study of Social Welfare Policy
RAND Corporation
1200 South Hayes St.
Arlington, VA 22202
703.413.1100, Ext. 5359; karoly@rand.org
Karoly's research has focused on early childhood investments, social welfare policy and U.S. labor markets. She has investigated the costs and benefits of early childhood intervention programs. And other recent research includes: the impact of welfare reform on child and family well-being, and the implications of demographic trends, technological change and globalization for the future U.S. workforce and workplace.
 

Economic Studies Program
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036-2118
202.797.6105; tgayer@brookings.edu
Gayer's focus is on economics, public finance, environmental and energy economics , housing and regulatory policy poverty.

Sara McLanahan Ph.D., Director and Professor
Center for Research on Child Well-Being (CRCW)
Princeton University
265 Wallace Hall
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
609.258.5894; mclanaha@princeton.edu
CRCW researchers have studied the relationship between earnings, socioeconomic status and child health status, and the effects of child health on parents’ relationship status and ability to work. McLanahan is an expert on single parent families. Her research interests include family demography, poverty and inequality, and social policy.

 

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
PO Box 2393
600 Alexander Park
Princeton, NJ 08543
609.275.2372; jpfleiderer@mathematica-mpr.com
Mathematica conducts public policy research and surveys on health care, education, welfare, employment, nutrition, child development, and other policy issues. The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) is an affiliate research organization that designs and conducts studies focused on the U.S. health care system.

 

Kristine Siefert , Associate Director and Professor of Social Work
Center for Poverty, Risk and Mental Health
University of Michigan
1080 S. University, 2846 SSWB
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
734.763.6201; ksiefert@umich.edu
Siefert's research investigates social and environmental risk factors for poor health and mental health among low-income women and children in diverse racial and ethnic populations. Recent studies include the impact of household food insufficiency on the physical and mental health of low income women and social and environmental determinants of major depression in low-income women.

 

Timothy Smeeding, Director, Distinguised Professor of Public Affairs
Institute for Research on Poverty
University of Wisconsin-Madison
305 Observatory Hill Office Building
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Madison, WI 53706-1211
608.263.6633; smeeding@lafollette.wisc.edu

Editorial Services, Communications and Marketing
Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.546.4400; james.weidman@heritage.org
The think tank formulates and promotes conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom and traditional American values. Its domestic research covers economics, education, family and marriage, health care and more.
 

 

 

Michele Anapol
Communications Director
National Housing Conference
1801 K St., NW, Suite M-100
Washington, DC 20006-1301
202.466.2121 Ext. 226; manapol@nhc.org
The nonprofit, nonpartisan NHC advocates for national policies and legislation that promote suitable housing in a safe, decent environment. Its research affiliate, the Center for Housing Policy, specializes in developing solutions. In October, the center released “Stretched Thin: The Impact of Rising Housing Expenses on America’s Owners and Renters.”

 

Ellen Bassuk M.D., President
National Center On Family Homelessness
181 Wells Ave.
Newton Centre, MA 02459
617.964.3834, Ext. 10; ellen.bassuk@familyhomelessness.org
Dr. Bassuk researches the impact of homelessness and the roles of violence, trauma and mental illness. She has worked on applied research projects like the Worcester Family Research Study, a comprehensive longitudinal study of sheltered homeless and low-income housed families and their children. Dr. Bassuk is currently project director for the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative's National Collaborative for Trauma-Surviving Homeless Children, directs the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness, and is technical project director for the federal Chronic Homelessness Initiative.

 

Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director
Center for Community Change
1000 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20007
202.339.9300; bhargavad@commchange.org
Bhargava is the executive director of nonprofit Center for Community Change. For nearly four decades, the Center for Community Change has worked to strengthen the leadership, voice and power of low-income communities nationwide to confront the vital issues of today and build the social movements of tomorrow.

 

Lois Cantwell, Communications and Marketing Director
National Housing Institute
460 Bloomfield Ave., Suite 211
Montclair, NJ 07042-3552
973.763.0333; lcantwell@nhi.org
NHI examines key issues affecting affordable housing and community development practitioners and their supporters. These include housing, jobs, safety and education, with an emphasis on housing and economic development, as well as poverty and racism, disinvestment and lack of employment, and breakdown of the social fabric. It explores those issues in its blog, Rooflines, and in its journal of affordable housing and community building, Shelterforce.

 

James Carr M.S., Chief Business Officer
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
727 15th St. N.W.
Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
jcarr@ncrc.org
Carr manages day-to-day operations for the coalition, formed in 1990 to increase the flow of private capital into -- and improve banking and credit services in -- underserved communities. Members include community development corporations, civil rights groups, community reinvestment advocates, local and state government agencies, and churches. Previously, Carr served as senior vice president of innovation and research for the Fannie Mae Foundation, a private nonprofit organization devoted to affordable housing. He also is a visiting professor of urban planning at Columbia University. Before moving to the foundation in 1996, Carr served as vice president for housing research at Fannie Mae. Earlier, he worked as assistant director for tax policy for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and as a research associate at Rutgers University’s Center for Urban Policy Research. He has published and lectured extensively on housing and urban policy, housing finance, community reinvestment, personal financial services, and state and local finance. Editor of the scholarly journal Housing Policy Debate since 1991, he also edited the Journal of Housing Research from 1991 to 2003. He co-edited the book “Replicating Microfinance in the United States” (Fannie Mae Foundation, Woodrow Wilson Center and Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003) and edited “The New Imperative for Housing Equality” (forthcoming).

 

202.462.4822 Ext. 228; ndonovan@nationalhomeless.org
The National Coalition for the Homeless, founded in 1984, is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to ending homelessness. The coalition can connect journalists with the names of over 150 regional, state and local advocates across the country.

 Carol Emig , President
Child Trends
4301 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 350
Washington, DC 20008
202.572.6003; cemig@childtrends.org
Emig has run Child Trends since late 2006. The nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization provides guidance to improve policies, programs and decisions affecting children and their families. Its major research areas include: early childhood development; child welfare; education; youth development and the transition to adulthood; health; teen sex and pregnancy; fatherhood and parenting; and marriage and family. It studies children and youth at every stage of development and in every important subgroup (by race/ethnicity, family income, parents’ marital status, immigrant status, etc.). Child Trends’ online DataBank provides the latest statistics on more than 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being.

 

Stuart Kantor, Senior Public Affairs Associate
Urban Institute
2100 M St. NW
Washington, DC 20037
202.261.5283; skantor@urban.org
The nonpartisan research institute investigates, analyzes and seeks solutions to U.S. social and economic problems. It works on issues involving work and income, housing and communities, child welfare, and civic engagement and philanthropy. Urban has 10 policy centers, including those focusing on low-income working families, economic security, education, health policy, criminal justice and taxes.
 

Julie Kerksick, Administrator
Division of Family and Economic Security
Wisconsin Department of Children and Families
P.O. Box 8916
Madison, WI 53708-8916
608.267.3905; juliekerksick@hotmail.com
Kerksick most recently served as the Executive Director of the New Hope Project. Kerksick has spent her entire professional career working with and on behalf of unemployed and low-income workers. She has helped design public policy, but has also shared in the responsibility of translating those policies into operating programs and procedures. Kerksick also serves on the Steering Committee of the National Transitional Jobs Network and the Board of Directors for First Service Credit Union.

 

 Moises Loza, Executive Director
Housing Assistance Council
1025 Vermont Ave. N.W., Suite 606
Washington, DC 20005
202.842.8600; moises@ruralhome.org
Moises Loza is the executive director of the Housing Assistance Council (HAC), a national non-profit corporation working to increase the availability of decent housing for rural low-income people. The organization provides technical assistance, training and research. It also operates a revolving loan fund, with assets of approximately $67 million, to assist with housing development for migrant farm workers, Native Americans, and low-income families in rural areas including Appalachia, the “colonias” along the U.S.-Mexico border and the lower Mississippi delta. HAC has loaned over $183 million to help build more than 57,000 housing units in 49 states. The organization also assists federal, state and public bodies and others in serving rural areas more effectively. Loza has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas Pan-American.

 

Mary Moreno, Senior Communications Specialist
Center for Community Change
1536 U Street NW
Washington, DC 20009
202.339.9316; mmoreno@communitychange.org
The progressive social justice organization analyzes and translates policies affecting a broad swath of very low- to moderate-income people. It helps grass-roots groups – involved in issues such as affordable housing, income supports, economic justice and immigrants’ rights – build capacity to affect policies at all levels.

 

Jose Padilla, Executive Director
California Rural Legal Assistance
631 Howard St., Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94105
415.777.2752; hn0097@handsnet.org
Padilla's work has focused on immigration, civil rights and education law. He became legal advisor to California’s Migrant Education Parent Advisory Council and co-drafted AB 1382, the Migrant Education Statute, which addresses the special educational needs of California’s migrant children. CRLA’s legal work emphasizes assistance to the special needs of the farm worker community with cases focusing on pesticide exposure, housing, labor, education, civil rights, immigration and environmental justice.

 

The Mortgage Center
115 Akiens Center Ste. 20B
Martinsburg, WV 25401
304.267.9040; msavitt@mortgagefinance.com
Savitt, president of the Mortgage Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., served a term as National Association of Mortgage Brokers president in 2008. Savitt is a board member and has served as chair of the organization's Government Affairs Committee and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. He was named NAMB Broker of the Year in 2006. He has worked to rid the industry of unfair and deceptive practices used by some homebuilders and real estate agents, and he formed the industry’s first consumer protection committee. Savitt spoke about the mortgage crisis during an SPJ workshop in October 2007.

 

Josh Silver
Vice President of Research and Policy
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
727 15th St., NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
202.464.2709; jsilver@ncrc.org
The association of more than 600 community-based institutions promotes access to basic banking services, including credit and savings, to create and sustain affordable housing, job development and vibrant communities for America’s working families. Members include community development corporations, local and state government agencies, faith-based institutions, community organizing and civil rights groups, minority and women-owned business associations and social service providers.

 

Germonique Ulmer, Communications Director
Center for Community Change
1536 U St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20009
202.339.9331; gulmer@communitychange.org

The progressive social justice organization analyzes and translates policies affecting a broad swath of very low- to moderate-income people. It helps grass-roots groups – involved in issues such as affordable housing, income supports, economic justice and immigrants’ rights – build capacity to affect policies at all levels.

Marian Wright Edelman, President
Children's Defense Fund
25 E St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
202.662.3500 work or 202.244.9004 home; cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org
CDF advocates for the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves, paying particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF encourages preventive investment before children get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF was founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman; it is supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. Edelman, a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School, began her career in the mid-60s when, as the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar, she directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Mississippi. In l968, she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People's Campaign that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, a public-interest law firm and the parent body of CDF. For two years, she served as the Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University and, in l973, began the Children's Defense Fund.
 

 

 

 

Atoinette Banks, Public Affairs Specialist
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 Seventh St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20410
202.708.0685 Ext. 4294; Antoinette.P.Banks@hud.gov
HUD was established in 1965 to develop and implement U.S. policy on housing and cities, though it now primarily concentrates on housing. Among its programs for families are Hope VI and Moving to Opportunity. Note: HUD’s site is a challenge to navigate. Here is a link to their subject index.

 

Neill Coleman, General Deputy

 

David Hansell, Acting Assistant Secretary

370 L'Enfant Plaza Promenade SW
Washington, DC 20201

202.401.5180; david.hansell@acf.hhs.gov

Hansell became acting assistant secretary in July 2010. ACF oversees programs that promote the social and economic well-being of America’s children, youth and families. Prior to his government experience, Hansell served in a range of positions at Gay Men's Health Crisis, including director of legal services and deputy director for government and public affairs. He has also been a consultant on health policy and social services issues to a wide range of governmental and non-profit organizations.

 

Robert M. Groves, Director
U.S. Census Bureau
301.763.2135; robert.m.groves@census.gov

Groves began his tenure as director on July 15, 2009. Groves has authored or co-authored seven books and more than 50 articles. His 1989 book, "Survey Errors and Survey Costs," was named one of the 50 most influential books in survey research by the American Association of Public Opinion Research.

Mark Tolbert, Deputy Public Information Officer
U.S. Census Bureau
301.763.8327; mark.tolbert.iii@census.gov
The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of data about the nation's people and economy.
 
Kenneth Wolfe, Media Contact
Administration on Children and Families

Office of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, DC 20201
202.401.9215; kenneth.wolfe@acf.hhs.gov
ACF funds state, territory, local and tribal organizations to improve the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals and communities. It oversees roughly 60 programs involving child welfare and child support, Head Start, child care, family violence, and fatherhood and marriage.