affordable housing

Margaret Dewar

Professor Emerita of Urban Planning, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Margaret Dewar’s research is in the broad areas of economic development, housing and community development, urban environmental planning and urban land use. Her current projects address remaking cities following abandonment and strengthening deterior...

Staff

Leonymae Aumentado

Senior Project Manager

Leonymae Aumentado is a senior project manager at Poverty Solutions, where she supports various research and strategic projects, including the Guaranteed Income to Grow Ann Arbor pilot program and the Detroit Home Repair Resource Guide and lead-safe ...

Staff

Amanda Nothaft

Director of Data & Analysis

Amanda Nothaft has extensive experience in data analysis and policy evaluation and has worked across multiple levels of government and a wide variety of policy stakeholders. Prior to joining Poverty Solutions, Nothaft worked on projects as diverse as...

Faculty Directors

Natasha Pilkauskas

Associate Faculty Director, Poverty Solutions; Professor of Public Policy

[email protected]

Natasha Pilkauskas is associate faculty director at Poverty Solutions and a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her research considers how demographic, social safety net, and economic shi...

Staff

Sam Stragand

Senior Program Manager, Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility

Sam Stragand is the senior program manager for the Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility at Poverty Solutions, where he works with community partners to conduct research and evaluation projects in Detroit. Prior to joining Poverty Solutions, Strag...

Faculty Affiliates

Lan Deng

Professor of Urban Planning

Lan Deng is an expert on affordable housing policies and affordable housing finance and has conducted extensive research in this area. Her research spans between the U.S. and China. In the U.S., Deng is a leading scholar in the research on the Low-In...

Faculty Affiliates

Lex Eisenberg

Lecturer, Health Behavior and Health Equity, School of Public Health

[email protected]

Lex Eisenberg is an educator, researcher, and organizer based in Detroit whose work integrates community-based knowledge and mixed methods to understand how policy implementation and enforcement impacts housing, health, and racial equity. Their resea...

Faculty Affiliates

Roshanak Mehdipanah

Associate Professor of Health Behavior and Health Equity; Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning

Roshanak Mehdipanah specializes in innovative research methods, including realist evaluations and concept mapping to develop conceptual frameworks linking complex interventions to health. She has published in the areas of urban renewal, housing and p...

Faculty Affiliates

Jeffrey Morenoff

Professor of Public Policy; Professor of Sociology; Research Professor, Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research; Associate Dean for Research and Policy Engagement

Jeffrey Morenoff is a Professor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and the Department of Sociology, and Research Professor in the Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center. He also serves as Associate Dean for Research and Polic...

Faculty Affiliates

Trina Shanks

Director, School of Social Work Community Engagement; Harol R. Johnson Collegiate Professor of Social Work; and Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research

Trina Shanks' research interests include the impact of poverty and wealth on child well-being; asset-building policy and practice across the life cycle; and community and economic development. She has been a research investigator for the Saving for E...

In the Media

Detroit’s high property taxes are driving a housing affordability crisis – how can city leaders bring down costs?

May 22, 2026 The Conversation

Amanda Nothaft, the director of data and analysis at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan, explains the extent of Detroit's property tax burden and avenues for reform.

Houses on a neighborhood street in Detroit

In the Media

Three generations, one roof, and a new American dream

May 17, 2026 Business Insider

In many cultures around the world, multigenerational households — in which grandparents, parents, and grandchildren live under one roof — are a way of life. Though American culture has long prized independence and individualism, many families in the ...

In the Media

Detroiters can’t fix up their houses without insurance — but can’t get insurance until repairs are made

Mar 25, 2026 Outlier Media

Detroiters, however, don’t have homeowners insurance at alarmingly high rates, locking them out of access to capital. At least 25% — and perhaps closer to 40% — of Detroit homes aren’t insured, according to a 2025 University of Michigan survey.

In the Media

Detroit plans to double spending on home repair. It won’t come close to meeting the need

Mar 24, 2026 Outlier Media

The increase signals renewed attention to Detroit’s home repair crisis and could help hundreds of homeowners. But residents and housing experts say the funds are still far short of what’s needed, leaving many Detroiters living in unsafe conditions.

In the Media

Nearly half of Detroit seniors spend at least 30% of their income on housing costs − even as real estate values fall

Jan 13, 2026 The Conversation

For Detroit homeowners over 65 who overwhelmingly live on fixed incomes, unexpected costs – increases in grocery prices, rising health care premiums or an emergency repair – heighten their risk of financial instability and can even lead to them falli...

News Release

Cost is leading factor in Detroit's higher-than-average rate of uninsured homeowners

Jul 16, 2025

About 38% of Detroit homeowners without mortgages report being uninsured, nearly twice as high as the national average of 19.5%, a new University of Michigan survey shows.

News Release

Child Tax Credit expansion boosted housing affordability and stability, U-M study shows

Aug 5, 2024

A temporary, pandemic-era expansion of the Child Tax Credit improved housing affordability for families with low incomes, according to University of Michigan research.

News Release

U-M study: Detroit’s Black homeowners gained nearly $3B in real estate wealth from 2014-22

Apr 16, 2024

A comprehensive new study from the University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions concluded that Black homeowner-occupants in Detroit amassed $2.8 billion in added home value between 2014 and 2022, which represents an 80% increase during that time.

University of Michigan Professor Jeffrey Morenoff (left) stands with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan (center) and other speakers at a press conference on April 16, 2024, about Morenoff's findings on how Detroit home values changed from 2014 to 2022. (Photo...

Feature

Murky homeownership status derails flood relief in South Carolina

Dec 9, 2019

This is part of a series of stories from the field for the “Understanding Communities of Deep Disadvantage” project.

A home in Marion County, South Carolina, sustained flood damage, as seen in summer 2019.

Real-World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions

cityLAB’s Innovations for Affordable Housing

Oct 23, 2026, 12:00-1:30 pm EDT

School of Social Work B780 (basement)

Dana Cuff and the lab's "housing first" research demonstrates that affordable, well-designed housing and neighborhoods are attainable foundations of equitable cities.

Watch live from this page

cityLAB’s Innovations for Affordable Housing

Making housing more affordable

Apr 7, 2017, 3:30-6:30 pm EDT

School of Social Work

Making Housing More Affordable is the first in the Poverty Solutions Engagement Series, where we will tackle a poverty-related topic and connect faculty, students and communities to explore ideas, strategies and potential solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Journal Publications

The Legacy of Redlining: Links to Adolescent Functional Brain Networks, Perceived Stress, and Internalizing Problems

July 6, 2026

Gabriela L. Suarez, Helen C.S. Meier, Cleanthis Michael, Scott Tillem, Isabella Palomba, Felicia A. Hardi, Enrique Neblett, Colter Mitchell, Christopher Monk, Luke W. Hyde

Journal article in Brain and Environment

Policy Briefs

Exploring the Role of Homeowners Insurance in Economic Mobility and Neighborhood Stability in Detroit

March 11, 2026

Sam Stragand, Amanda Nothaft

Journal Publications

Selling low-value housing to owner occupants or investors: The effect on property disinvestment in Detroit

February 13, 2026

Margaret Dewar, Roshanak Mehdipanah

Journal of Urban AffairsResearch on addressing vacant and disinvested properties focuses primarily on remediation, not on prevention. Increasing owner occupancy might prevent property deterioration because homeowners typically maintain properties bet...

Journal Publications

Racial Disparities in the Mortgage Application Process: Evidence from 2018 to 2024 National-Level Data

December 4, 2025

Patrick Meehan, Sunggeun "Ethan" Park

Race and Social ProblemsThis study investigates racial disparities in the U.S. mortgage application process by examining outcomes beyond traditional credit denial. Using over 37 million mortgage applications submitted between 2018 and 2024, we analyz...

House key on a house shaped keychain resting on wooden floorboards concept for real estate, moving home or renting property

Journal Publications

The Effects of the 2021 Child Tax Credit on Housing Affordability and the Living Arrangements of Families With Low Incomes

August 5, 2024

Natasha Pilkauskas, Katherine Michelmore, Nicole Kovski

DemographyAccess to safe and stable housing is important for child and adult well-being. Yet many low-income households face severe challenges in maintaining stable housing. In this article, we examine the impact of the 2021 temporary expansion to th...

Core project

Detroit Home Repair Resource Guide

October 2019

Leonymae Aumentado

The Detroit Home Repair Resource Guide documents existing home repair resources available in the city and connects residents to the services they need.

Detroit Home Repair Resource Guide graphic

Funded faculty research

Detroit Housing Counseling and Homeownership Project

January 2021 - December 2021

Trina R. Shanks

The goals of this project are to better understand the state of first-time homebuyer education in Detroit and to analyze public data sources that represent the state of sales and homeownership in Detroit.

Core project

Land Contracts

January 2021 - December 2023

Leonymae Aumentado

Poverty Solutions and its partners have explored supportive land contracts as a path to homeownership and the policies needed to reduce abuse of predatory land contracts.

Illustration of three homes beside a "For Sale by Owner – Land Contract" sign

Funded faculty research

Preserving Low-Income Housing in Detroit

January 2017 - December 2017

Margaret Dewar, Lan Deng

For more than three years, U-M researchers teamed with a Detroit Low Income Housing Tax Credit task force to analyze the financing and ownership to preserve decent affordable housing.

View of downtown Detroit with smoke rising from a building.