Housing Policy Initiative
The Pew Charitable Trusts housing policy initiative works to improve the affordability of housing and access to safe home financing. Pew works with diverse, bipartisan policymakers, stakeholders, and researchers at the state and federal level to increase access to safe, affordable home financing and to significantly reduce the shortage of housing in the United States. For more information about this project, visit https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/projects/housing-policy-initiative.
Position Overview
The senior associate will develop, implement, and release research that builds a strong evidence base for improving access to housing and safe home financing. Research topics will include zoning reforms, home financing arrangements, small mortgage lending, how land-use regulations and building codes affect housing affordability, and the impact of housing availability on homelessness levels. The position collaborates closely with staff overseeing Pew’s housing research, policy analysis, and policy development, government and community outreach liaisons, and communications professionals.
Located in Pew's DC office, this position reports to the manager, research, housing policy initiative and will participate in Pew's core in-office days on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the flexibility to work from home the remainder of each week. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country for which they are seeking employment without visa sponsorship.
Responsibilities
- Foster a work environment that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, accessible and in line with Pew and the project’s related goals.
- Examine housing availability and home financing issues at the local, state, and federal levels, with specific attention to the effects of land-use regulations, building codes, and state and local zoning reforms on housing costs. Perform first-level analysis of data; and conduct background research on key housing and regulatory topics.
- Develop original research on how housing availability and affordability affect homelessness levels and help generate proposals to reduce homelessness levels.
- Monitor relevant developments in local, state, and federal laws and proposals, and identify emerging trends in housing policy, markets, and finance. Identify datasets that may reveal fresh angles or insights. Generate ideas for publications that are consistent with the initiative’s scope and goals.
- Compile and maintain datasets from various sources that may be used in research projects.
- Develop and identify key findings and present them clearly and concisely.
- Write original drafts of findings and present polished deliverables to Pew colleagues and external stakeholders. Work with senior researchers to organize and write reports, briefs, and web analyses.
- Represent the project at conferences, seminars, policy discussions, and other events as needed.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
- Generally, four years of applicable experience in fields related to public policy, housing, law, or research.
- Experience evaluating quantitative and qualitative data and writing up results.
- Works effectively with colleagues across the institution and leverages a variety of technical systems to advance complex projects to successful completion.
- Skilled at informing and influencing internal and external audiences through written and oral communications.
- Applies effective research and analytical skills to public policy issues, including synthesizing and summarizing large amounts of information to focus quickly on the essence of an issue.
- A high degree of interest in housing policy, especially reforming regulations to improve access to housing in cities and other high-opportunity areas, improving the affordability of housing, and reducing homelessness levels.
Key attributes and preferred experience
- Skilled at developing and maintaining productive and collaborative relationships with a wide array of staff and stakeholders with differing perspectives.
- Comfort with working with a high degree of independence on complex projects within a creative, fast-paced, action-oriented, and collegial environment.
- Experience with statistical analysis tools (SPSS, Stata, SAS, R) or specialty research tools (Lexis-Nexis, regulatory databases).
Travel
This position requires occasional domestic travel to meetings, conferences, and possibly state capitals.
Total Rewards
We offer a competitive salary and benefit program, including: comprehensive, affordable health care through medical, dental, and vision coverage; financial security with life and disability insurance; opportunities to save using health savings and flexible spending accounts; retirement benefits to help prepare for the future; and work/life benefits to maintain a good balance.
The Pew Charitable Trusts is an equal opportunity employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Pew considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to age, sex, ethnicity, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or gender identity, military/veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.
