It's official!.

Critical urbanists: I'm reimagining a course on gentrification, justice & the future of cities for the spring semester. Looking for all your insights & suggestions on what we should be reading . 👇 . TY!.

Mid-semester reviews coming in strong with a big endorsement for the Housing Voices podcast from @ShaneDPhillips & the team at @UCLALewisCenter.

I did not design the flyer for our @Georgetown Sociology Department Meet & Greet, but if I had designed it, I also would've put us dancing under a disco ball. No notes.

ICYMI on NPR, a story sharing HUD's interest in learning about direct rental assistance.

It's exciting to see public policy schools investing in sociologists. Hey sociologists working on public policy topics: Check out this job opportunity at @Georgetown's @McCourtSchool. Deadline: 9/30.

Happy Publication Day to our book about Seattle's Democracy Voucher program - one of the most innovative ideas to transform the role of money in local elections. @drjenh

The beginning of the semester felt like a good time to give the professional website a refresh.

Special thanks to @lessig & @CageJulia for saying nice things about the book, and to the whole team at @TempleUnivPress for their stewardship of it.

After several years of researching and writing about Seattle's Democracy Voucher program, I'm thrilled to share the book that @drjenh and I wrote about it. Coming to your bookshelves next month! Use the promo code below.

So, if you have something to say about DRA as a researcher, policymaker, or person with lived experience, respond to the RFI. (Also, UBI community - tell us your thoughts!) Through the RFI, HUD can hear directly from people impacted by their programs. Deadline is Aug 30.

Getting this RFI through HUD wasn't easy. Bureaucracies are resistant to change. But the willingness of my colleagues in PD&R and PIH to shepherd this to the finish line is laudable. This type of bold, innovative thinking will advance HUD's mission and improve programs.

We won't know until we run some pilots, collect some data & evaluate the evidence. That is, after all, the essence of evidence-based policy. And with this RFI, HUD is signaling an interest in learning more about DRA from stakeholders, experts and people with lived experience.

Direct rental assistance (DRA) provides cash directly to tenants & they pay their landlords. Philly is running a pilot & several other places are getting close to doing so. Will this concept work? Can it solve some of the challenges of HCV? Will it increase success rates?.

In many markets, it is increasingly difficult for tenants to find affordable units & landlords willing to rent to them. The reasons: discrimination, stigmatization, lack of supply, bureaucratic hassle, the inspection process, etc. Tenants get vouchers, but can't use them.

This model works well for lots of households. Millions of low-income families have benefited from HCVs to access safe, decent and affordable housing. We should be proud of that. But it doesn't work for everyone - and we should acknowledge that, too.

In the Housing Choice Voucher program, PHAs pay a portion of the rent directly to landlords, rather than paying the tenants. When housing allowances were first tested in the 1970s, HUD tried a bunch of different models (see: EHAP) and landed with this model.

HUD recently issued a Request for Information (RFI) to learn about Direct Rental Assistance programs. This is a really important moment for the agency - and for the ways we think about tenant-based rental assistance. A 🧵:. Tell HUD your thoughts:

Updated: The Table of Contents of the 50th Anniversary of HCV Cityscape Issue!

And best of all, unlike most journals, Cityscape is open access - no paywalls, no gatekeeping by Elsevier and Sage, just PDFs that you can download, read and share!. Take a look at the Table of Contents (and share it with your colleagues and friends!).