The School of Planning, Public Policy and Management (PPPM) is celebrating a competitive grant award earned by Associate Professor, Rebecca Lewis, and Assistant Professor, José Meléndez. The research team secured a competitive research grant from the Housing Solutions Lab, housed at the NYU Furman Center. The lab launched in 2021 with the goal of helping small and midsize cities with their housing policies, specifically helping "plan, launch, and evaluate evidence-based local housing policies that advance racial equity; increase access to opportunity; and improve long-term health and wellbeing for residents." Thanks to the support provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Housing Solutions Lab is able to provide competitive research grants to research teams that study innovative housing policy in small and midsize cities. Lewis and Melèndez's study was chosen to be one of the four research groups to receive $30,000 to conduct new research. 

Lewis and Meléndez will study a group of midsize Oregon cities that have decided not to adopt the state's model code when it comes to updating their zoning ordinances as required by the state to allow more missing middle housing. The research team will examine each city's approach to community engagement in the reform process with the help of stakeholder interviews. The team will examine whether and how engagement with underrepresented groups informs local code adoption. 

Read more:  https://localhousingsolutions.org/lab-housing-policy-innovation-grant-awards/