Monday, February 24 - Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Andersen Library, University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus
Suggested hotel with discount: Courtyard Minneapolis Downtown
Our Research Barnraising is a 1.5 day symposium, where we aim to explore and start to build innovative research and collaborations centered around the theme of housing. Housing plays a fundamental role in the health and wellbeing of adults, children, and families in the United States and around the world. From a source of necessary shelter, to the primary source of family wealth accumulation, to the main space that people feel connected to being “at home” with loved ones, housing is integral to our daily lives. Yet housing has become increasingly unaffordable for many families, and access to safe and stable housing remains inequitably distributed. Housing policy plays an important role to improve access to safe and affordable housing, and this domain of social policy is enjoying renewed interest in the political and policy arena. This one and a half day event will explore innovative strands of housing research such as housing and population health; housing inequities; housing policy and program opportunities to improve well-being; the interaction between housing and adult and child development; implications of housing for communities; and promising directions for the future of research on housing.
Schedule
Monday, February 24
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM
Coffee, snacks, and networking
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Morning Welcome
10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Held both in person and online. When you register, indicate if you intend to attend virtually.
Moderator: Ryan Allen, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Panelists: Michael Lens, Margot Kushel, Eva Rosen, and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM
Lunch
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Working Group Session 1 (there will be two concurrent working sessions)
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM
Panel of Funders
Moderated by Nick Graetz
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Poster session and social hour
Tuesday, February 25
8:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Coffee, snacks, and networking
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
The Future of Housing Research at the University of Minnesota
10:45 AM - 11:45 AM
Charting the Future of Housing Research: A Synthesis of Challenges, Opportunities, and Strategic Directions
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Lunch
Conclude
Guest Speakers
Michael Lens
Michael Lens is Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, Chair of the Luskin Undergraduate Programs, and Associate Faculty Director of the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, UCLA. Professor Lens’s research and teaching explore the potential of public policy to address housing market inequities that lead to negative outcomes for low-income families and communities of color. This research involves housing interventions such as subsidies, tenant protections, and production. Professor Lens regularly publishes this work in leading academic journals and his research has won awards from the Journal of the American Planning Association and Housing Policy Debate.
Margot Kushel
Margot Kushel, MD is a Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco, Division Chief of the Division of Health Equity and Society, and Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations and the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. She is a practicing general internist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of homelessness, with the goal of preventing and ending homelessness and ameliorating the effects of homelessness on health. She is the Principal Investigator of the California State Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH) and numerous NIA funded studies on homelessness in older adults.
Eva Rosen
Eva Rosen is associate professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, and faculty affiliate in the department of sociology. Her research is focused on social inequality in the urban context. In particular, she studies the intersection between poverty and American housing policy.
Dolores Acevedo-Garcia
Dolores Acevedo-Garcia is Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, and Director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University.
Her research focuses on the social determinants (e.g. residential segregation, neighborhood inequality, immigrant adaptation) of racial/ethnic inequities in health; the role of social policies (e.g. housing policies, anti-poverty policies, immigrant policies) in reducing those inequities; and the health and wellbeing of children with special needs.
George Galster
Dr. Galster provides a wealth of experience in academic, governmental, non-profit, and for-profit circles, both in the U.S. and abroad. He has held positions at the Universities of: Harvard, Cal-Berkeley, North Carolina, Amsterdam, Delft, Glasgow, Mannheim, Western Sydney and The College of Wooster. He served as Director of Housing Research at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC before coming to Wayne State University in 1996. Dr. Galster has been a consultant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U. S. Department of Justice, numerous municipalities, community organizations, civil rights groups, and organizations like the National Association of Realtors, American Bankers Association, and Fannie Mae. He has served on the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, National Academy of Science review committees, and numerous other leadership positions in community service. Public officials in Australia, Canada, China, France, Scotland, and the U.S. have sought his housing and urban policy consultations.
MPC Planning Committee
- Theresa Osypuk, Director, Minnesota Population Center and Professor, Epidemiology & Community Health
- Ryan Allen, Professor and Associate Dean of Research, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs
- Andrew Fenelon, Associate Professor, Epidemiology & Community Health
- Evan Roberts, Assistant Professor, History of Medicine
- Nick Graetz, Assistant Professor, Sociology
- David Van Riper, Director of Spatial Analysis, Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation
- Yusra Murad, PhD Student, Health Services Research, Policy & Administration, College of Public Health
- Claire Kamp Dush, Director, Minnesota Population Center’s Development Core, Professor, Sociology
- Lindsey Fabian, Centers and Training Manager, Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation