HOME Scholars Summer 2023

The HPD Center for Research on HOME (Housing Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity) is excited to offer the HOME Scholars Program to provide energetic and motivated undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to obtain experience in applied research within a large government housing agency. Our research program offers students the opportunity to work closely with the HPD research team on better understanding how the city helps low-income families in NYC find and maintain safe and affordable housing. The program also provides training to help students in their professional development as social scientists, with particular emphasis on skills related to primary data collection, fieldwork, survey design and administration, statistical analysis, data dissemination, and translation of findings into practice.

Why Do Research at HPD

As the largest municipal housing agency in the U.S., HPD strives to advocate for the quality and affordability in NYC’s housing, and diversity and strength in NYC’s neighborhoods. The findings from research conducted at HPD directly helps residents of NYC through policies developed to promote resident health and safety along with affordable housing. The creation, maintenance, and expansion of opportunities for New Yorkers—including housing voucher holders, formerly homeless households, people with disabilities, and populations with unmet needs—to attain the economic and social benefits of housing affordability.

How The HOME Scholars Programs Works

HOME Scholars will conduct and contribute to original research to tackle the long-standing and ongoing issues on housing that residents of NYC face, including but not limited to, issues pertaining to disparities in residential environment, housing equity, building quality and maintenance, neighborhood amenities, access to high-performing schools, health and well-being, neighborhood safety, and availability of affordable and healthy foods. The HPD research team partners with academics, applied researchers, stakeholders, and federal agencies to employ an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to inform policy and guide policymakers and housing programs. Furthermore, Scholars will obtain first-hand experience on the research team’s projects of which are meticulously overseen by the research team in every phase from beginning to end. Scholars will be matched with research projects and team members depending on their level of experience and academic interests.

Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Research Approach

The HPD research team welcomes researchers from a variety of backgrounds and fields, such as urban planning, sociology, geography, data science, language justice, social work, public health, public policy, and developmental psychology. Mixed methods research is applied in the execution of elegantly-designed projects to ensure findings that are rigorous, relevant, representative, high in quality, and effective in informing policy. The research team envisions a group of highly-motivated and inquisitive Scholars of diverse training to contribute to the study of critical issues like housing disparities, residential mobility, neighborhood effects, and socioeconomic inequality.

Current Projects at The Center for Research on HOME

Housing Choice Voucher Community Choice Demonstration (CCD) with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

This is a study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide families with children better access to low-poverty neighborhoods with high-performing schools and other strong community resources. Our past students were heavily engaged with telephone recruitment of research participants, survey administration, research interviews with housing voucher holders, and research team support.

NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS)

This is a citywide representative survey of New York City’s housing stock and population that is fielded about every three years (including 2023) by the U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the City of New York. Students working on this project would contribute to the analysis of the current state of NYC housing and population as well the development of future cycles of the survey.

Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program in NYC

The EHV Program assists thousand of residents of NYC find housing by subsidizing a portion of rent based on the household’s income. These residents include those who are experiencing homelessness, those at risk of homelessness, and victims of domestic violence. Students involved in this project would contribute to the evaluation of the effectiveness of mobility counseling for individuals in the EHV Program.

What To Expect as an HPD HOME Scholar

The duration of time that an HPD HOME Scholar works is flexible and expected to be 8 to 12 weeks, and 20 to 30 hours per week. For the summer of 2023, Scholars are expected to begin their program in early June. Weekly schedules are flexible and should be negotiated at the start of the program. Each scholar will be matched with an ongoing project based on the student’s research interests, skills, and experience. Each scholar will also have regular one-on-one meetings with the HPD research team’s Learning and Development Coordinator and staff members with expertise on the scholar’s project.