Current Projects
The Landscape of Cooperative and Shared Equity Housing in the United States
James DeFilippis and a set of students – Erica Copeland, Mila Hamilton, Celeste Royo, and John Smith with funding from the Cooperative Development Foundation – are conducting a nationwide “landscape analysis” of the field of shared equity housing for the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF). CDF is interested in moving into co-op and other forms of shared equity housing, and we will be providing a “state of the field” analysis for them as they move into this work.
New Jersey State of Affordable Rental Housing – NJSOARH
The NJSOARH team of Professors Eric Seymour, Kathe Newman, Will Payne, Postdoctoral Associate Shiloh Deitz, doctoral student Lauren Nolan and masters student John Smith are building a housing data infrastructure to describe the landscape of rental housing affordable to lower income households in New Jersey and conducting interviews to better understand the processes that shape housing insecurity. Other team members have included undergraduate Bloustein Honors student Lily Chang and Esther Colon-Bermudez, RISE undergraduate fellow from the University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras as well as masters students Jonathan Bonilla, Erica Copeland, William Downie, Mila Hamilton, and Smriti Singh. An Advisory Committee comprised of leading NJ community development and housing organizations guides the project.
Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows
The Ralph W. Voorhees Public Service Fellows are working with Replenish, the Middlesex County Food Bank, on mapping networks, resources, gaps and vulnerabilities in the County’s emergency food system to inform the County’s strategic master plan, Destination 2040.
Faith-based Affordable Housing
Nadia Mian received a 2-year grant from the Louisville Institute to examine how US faith-based institutions use their property to build affordable housing while advocating for changing land use, zoning and housing policy. She conducted about 25 interviews with faith-based leaders, urban planners, developers, and affordable housing advocates working on faith-based affordable housing in the US. Kyle Cruz, MCRP, helped with interviews.
Negotiating Social Futures Seminar Series
Professors Mi Shih and Kathe Newman received support from the Urban Studies Foundation for a series of events to bring global researchers in conversation about the politics of land and value and to provide training and support for early career faculty and students. More than 90 people attended a virtual paper conference in September 2021. A set of papers from that conference is under review at an academic journal. The team hosted a case study workshop in January 2022 and is hosting an-person case study conference in September 2022 at the Bloustein School. Following the conference, Professors Shih and Newman will submitting a book proposal to publish the collected case studies.
Negotiating Social Futures Action Grant
Profs. Mi Shih and Kathe Newman received an Urban Studies Foundation Knowledge Mobilization award in 2021. The objective of this funding is to transform critical urban scholarship to social engagement actions in Taiwan. The local partners of this project include the Lab for Integrated Socio-Spatial Science and Information (LISSI) at National Chengchi University and the Organization of Urban Re-s (OURs). OURs is an influential NGO in Taiwan that has been involved in urban policy making and civic engagement for decades. Collaborating with Dr. Yinghui Chiang at LISSI and Mr. Yang-Kai Peng, Secretary General of OURs, we organized a series of three virtual events on July 30 and 31, 2022. The first was a public talk and the second two were discussion panels. Dr. Shih and Dr. Chiang gave a presentation titled Land’s Social Values: What Kinds of Markets and Urban Futures Have Density Tools Created? That was based on their research on the politics of land development and value capture. Each of the discussion panels was comprised of four scholars and practitioners who have long paid close attention to issues related to land development regulatory tools and affordable housing. Each event attracted more than 120 participants and featured a lively Q&A session.