Research Partnerships, Partners in Research

Research Partnerships, Partners in Research

Sherone Ivey, Deputy Assistant Secretary for University Partnerships. In recent years, the Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has added a number of new research vehicles that allow us to conduct our work with greater flexibility and expand the number and types of partners with whom we collaborate. One of those recently established vehicles is the Research Partnerships initiative.

PD&R developed the Research Partnerships initiative because valuable housing and community development research often is initiated by foundations, research organizations, independent researchers, or other government agencies. Through Research Partnerships, PD&R accepts unsolicited research proposals on a continuing basis that will advance knowledge in one of the following five key areas:

• Homeownership and housing finance.
• Affordable rental housing.
• Housing as a platform for improving quality of life.
• Sustainable and inclusive communities.
• HUD assets.

Research Partnerships are noncompetitive, cooperative agreements that allow PD&R to participate in innovative projects that address key research questions that we would not otherwise be able to address. In addition to a compelling proposal, partnering organizations must provide 50 percent of the total cost of the project. Through this matching requirement, PD&R leverages its limited resources in a budget-constrained environment while still advancing critical research. In some cases, the resources PD&R provides through Research Partnerships allow our partners to increase the scale or scope of the project; in others, the Research Partnerships support is what makes the project possible.

One of best aspects of Research Partnerships is the opportunity for PD&R to engage with partners who share our desire to produce innovative, robust research that not only informs HUD’s policies and programs but may also impact the broader housing and community development field. PD&R’s current partners include the University of Maryland, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, RAND Corporation, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Vera Institute for Justice, to name a few.

The organizations participating in Research Partnerships are diverse, and so is the pipeline of research underway through the initiative. The following are just a few of the issues that current projects explore:

• How housing affects young children.
• Reverse mortgages and housing stability for an aging population.
• The link between intergenerational labor market outcomes, residential mobility, and neighborhood quality for households receiving housing assistance.
• How landlords affect access to housing and neighborhood quality among HUD-assisted renters.
• The relationship between receiving housing assistance and social health.

You can find descriptions of each of these projects and more here along with all the requirements for participating in Research Partnerships. Fittingly, Research Partnerships are managed through my office, the Office of University Partnerships (OUP). Since 1994, OUP has worked with anchor institutions and their partners, including local, state, and federal governments; community and nonprofit organizations; the private sector; and philanthropy, to support community-empowered partnerships that implement local solutions for local problems.

I view Research Partnerships as an exciting, natural extension of these collaborative efforts that will yield significant results. If you have any questions or if you are ready to submit your proposal, OUP looks forward to hearing from you at ResearchPartnerships@hud.gov.