Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan

Joan and Sanford Weill Hall
Suite 5100
735 South State Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-3091

Publications

Policy and Issue Briefs

Our policy briefs are designed to succinctly summarize key academic research findings and highlight important implications for public policy. Our issue briefs provide more extensive analysis and are often published in collaboration with other institutions.

Policy briefs published by the National Poverty Center previously housed at U-M are linked at the bottom of the page.

Featured policy and issue briefs

A Way Home: Why Supporting Youth Experiencing Homelessness is Critical in Michigan

This brief estimates the total number and ages of high school youth who face homelessness in the state, their health risks, and use of support services in the last 12 months using data from the Michigan Department of Education, Michigan’s 2018 Annual Report on Ending Homelessness, and the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

Families with Low Incomes and the Child Tax Credit: Who is Still Missing Out?

By focusing on a population of parents with low incomes, this brief focuses on CTC receipt among a group that is particularly likely to be at risk of not receiving payments. We highlight new findings regarding receipt of the tax credit among a very low-income population.

Building on Michigan’s Auto Insurance Reform Law

In this brief, we analyze the early outcomes of auto insurance reform more than a year after the initial provisions of the law went into effect.

Suburban Detroit Water Unaffordability: Causes, Consequences, and the Need for Comprehensive Policy Interventions
May 15, 2023

By Dana Kornberg, Mackenzie Taradalsky, Victoria Guster-Brown, Sylvia Orduño, and Diane Weckerle
Evidence on Measures to Reduce Excessive Use of Force by the Police
January 19, 2023

By Trevor Bechtel, Mara C. Ostfeld, and H. Luke Shaefer
Can a Public Bank Redress the Private Banking Industry’s Harms to Chicago’s Residents? An Analysis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Complaints Database
January 18, 2023

By Terri Friedline and Ameya Pawar
The Child Development and Care Subsidy: Challenges and Opportunities
November 11, 2022

By William D. Lopez, Karen A. Kling, & Amanda Nothaft
Learning from COVID-19 Eviction Response Measures in Detroit
November 11, 2022

By Alexa Eisenberg and Katlin Brantley, with research assistance from Laura Meyer
How Much Did Child Poverty Fall Between 1993 And 2019? How Does That Compare To What Happened Between 2019-2021?
October 28, 2022

By H. Luke Shaefer and Patrick Cooney

Trends in the Economic Well-Being of Households with Children (presentation)
Material Hardship and Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2022
October 27, 2022

By Patrick Cooney and H. Luke Shaefer
The Effects of Income on the Economic Well-being of Families with Low Incomes: Evidence from the 2021 Expanded Child Tax Credit
September 27, 2022

By Natasha Pilkauskas, Katherine Michelmore, and H. Luke Shaefer
Lessons from Detroit's Make It Home Program for Sustaining Very Low-Income Homeownership
August 10, 2022

By Margaret Dewar and Roshanak Mehdipanah
The Power of Connections: Cultivating Social Capital to Drive Economic Opportunity in Detroit
July 25, 2022

By Afton Branche-Wilson, Anna Lam, and Judy Lansky
One Time Spending for Long-Term Impact: Evaluating Washtenaw County's American Rescue Plan Act Allocations
July 5, 2022

By Amanda Nothaft
The COVID-19 Cash Transfer Studies
June 13, 2022

By H. Luke Shaefer, Brian A. Jacob, Natasha V. Pilkauskas, Elizabeth Rhodes, and Katherine Richard
Material Hardship and Well-Being of U.S. Households at the End of 2021
March 22, 2022

By Patrick Cooney, H. Luke Shaefer, and Samiul Jubaed
Disability in the Shadow of Mass Incarceration
March 11, 2022

By Reuben Jonathan Miller
A Way Home: Why Supporting Youth Experiencing Homelessness is Critical in Michigan
February 23, 2022

By Jennifer Erb-Downward and Amanda Nothaft
Analysis of the Census 2020 Count in Detroit
December 16, 2021

By Patrick Cooney, Ren Farley, Samiul Jubaed, Kurt Metzger, Jeffrey Morenoff, Lisa Neidert, and Ramona Rodriguez-Washington
Families with Low Incomes and the Child Tax Credit: Who is Still Missing Out?
December 14, 2021

By Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore
Building on Michigan's Auto Insurance Reform Law
December 1, 2021

By Amanda Nothaft and Patrick Cooney
Designing Subsidies for the Entire Child Care Provider Landscape
November 10, 2021

By Kelly Wilcox, Toko Oshio, and Jeff Kupperman
Receipt and Usage of Child Tax Credit Payments Among Low-Income Families: What We Know
October 6, 2021

By Natasha Pilkauskas and Patrick Cooney
Addressing the Links Between Poverty, Housing and Water Access and Affordability in Detroit
June 15, 2021

By Sara Hughes, Kathryn Maloney, Anna Kaczmarek, Heather Newberry, and Elizabeth Wallace
In Good Faith: Reimagining the Use of Land Contracts
June 10, 2021

By Karen Ann Kling and Evelyn Zwiebach, with contributing authors Leonymae Aumentado and Patrick Cooney
Material Hardship and Mental Health Following the COVID-19 Relief Bill and American Rescue Plan Act
May 28, 2021

By Patrick Cooney and H. Luke Shaefer
Postal Banking: How the United States Postal Service Can Partner on Public Options
May 21, 2021

By Terri Friedline, Xanthippe Wedel, Natalie Peterson, and Ameya Pawar
Recognizing Trauma: Why school discipline reform needs to consider student homelessness
May 18, 2021

By Jennifer Erb-Downward and Michael Blakeslee
Listening to SNAP Participants to Improve Access to the Expanded Child Tax Credit
April 23, 2021

By Patrick Cooney and Stacy Taylor
Trends in Hardship and Mental Health in the United States at the End of 2020
February 1, 2021

By Patrick Cooney and H. Luke Shaefer
Reinforcing Low-income Homeownership through Home Repair: Evaluation of the Make It Home Repair Program
February 1, 2021

By Alexa Eisenberg, Connor Wakayama, and Patrick Cooney
The Promises and Perils of Technology for Marginalized Job Seekers
January 1, 2021

By Tawanna Dillahunt, Alex Jiahong Lu, and Afton Branche-Wilson
Detroit's Strategic Neighborhood Fund: A Baseline Report of Resident Perceptions
December 1, 2020

By Lydia Wileden and Afton Branche-Wilson
Lost in the Masked Shuffle and Virtual Void: Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Amidst the Pandemic
November 1, 2020

By SchoolHouse Connection and Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan
Claiming Unemployment Benefits while Receiving Social Security Administration Disability Payments
August 1, 2020

By Poverty Solutions, The Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown Law, The Century Foundation, The Arc of the US, The Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities
Hardship and Well-being in the United States after the CARES Act
July 1, 2020

By H. Luke Shaefer, Patrick Cooney, Richard Rodems, and Marybeth J. Mattingly
Changes Big and Small: What's Needed in the Fight Against Poverty
July 1, 2020

By Robert Gordon, then director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Reach and Impact of Federal Stimulus Checks in Detroit
July 1, 2020

By Lydia Wileden and Richard Rodems
Michigan Evictions: Trends, data sources, and neighborhood determinants
May 1, 2020

By Robert Goodspeed, Kyle Slugg, Margaret Dewar, and Elizabeth Benton
Losing Home: Housing Instability and Availability in Detroit
May 1, 2020

By Jennifer Erb-Downward and Safiya Merchant
Michigan's Eviction Crisis
May 1, 2020

By Robert Goodspeed, Margaret Dewar, and Jim Schaafsma
Work and Opportunity in Detroit: The case for a bold subsidized employment initiative
December 1, 2019

By Patrick Cooney
Stopping the Eviction Machine in Detroit
October 1, 2019

By Patrick Cooney and Amanda Nothaft
Spending on Government Anti-Poverty Efforts: Healthcare Expenditures Vastly Outstrip Income Transfers
September 1, 2019

By H. Luke Shaefer, Kate Naranjo, and David Harris

Response from Cato Institute Senior Fellow Michael Tanner (Adobe PDF)
Many of the Kids Are Not Alright: Material Hardship Among Children in the United States
August 1, 2019

By Richard Rodems and H. Luke Shaefer
A Multi-state Analysis of Equity in Utility-sponsored Energy Efficiency Investments for Residential Electric Customers
April 1, 2019

By Tony G. Reames, Ben Stacey, and Michael Zimmerman
Opioid Addiction: Meeting the Need for Treatment in Michigan
April 1, 2019

By Amy Bohnert, Jennifer Erb-Downward, and Thomas Ivacko
Auto Insurance and Economic Mobility in Michigan: A Cycle of Poverty
March 1, 2019

By Patrick Cooney, Elizabeth Phillips, and Joshua Rivera
Opportunity in Our Backyard: How collaboration on summer youth employment can benefit both universities and local communities
March 1, 2019

By Sruthi Naraharisetti, Natalie Peterson, and Jennifer Erb-Downward
Preventing Owner-Occupied Property Tax Foreclosures in Detroit: Improving Access to the Poverty Tax Exemption
December 1, 2018

By Alexa Eisenberg, Roshanak Mehdipanah, Ted Phillips, and Michele Oberholtzer
Missing School, Missing a Home
November 1, 2018

By Jennifer Erb-Downward and Payton Watt
Equitable Access to Broadband in Michigan
August 1, 2018

By Sruthi Naraharisetti
Household Water Security in Metropolitan Detroit: Measuring the Affordability Gap
August 1, 2018

By Dahlia Rockowitz, Chris Askew-Merwin, Malavika Sahai, Kely Markley, Cria Kay, and Tony Reames
Rolling out the SNAP Work Requirements in Michigan: The Washtenaw County Experience
July 1, 2018

By Lesli Hoey and Markell Miller
Falling through the Cracks: Graduation and Dropout Rates among Michigan's Homeless High School Students
April 1, 2018

By Jennifer Erb-Downward
Employment and Access to Good Jobs in Bad Times: The case of Detroit
April 1, 2018

By Michael Evangelist, Lucie Kalousová, and Sarah Seelye
A Snapshot of Homelessness and Housing Instability in Michigan Schools
February 1, 2018

By Jennifer Erb-Downward and Michael Evangelist

View National Poverty Center policy briefs