Penn IUR Fellows in Urban Leadership Explore Housing Policy in Washington, D.C.

The Penn Institute for Urban Research’s 2026 Fellows in Urban Leadership cohort traveled to Washington, D.C. on Friday, March 27 for an intensive, day-long immersion focused on housing policy. The trip, led by Penn IUR Global Programs Director Amanda Lloyd, was designed to offer students a ground-level view of how research, advocacy, and implementation intersect across federal and local systems.

A cornerstone of the Fellows program is connecting students with leaders across sectors to better understand how cities function in practice. In Washington, this manifested as a sequence of conversations spanning research institutions, place-based organizations, and national policy networks.

The day began at the Urban Institute, where Fellows met with Janneke Ratcliffe, Vice President of the Housing and Communities Division and her team. The discussion emphasized the role of data-driven research in shaping equitable housing policy, particularly in areas such as mortgage access, housing finance, and affordability. Ratcliffe highlighted the challenge of translating rigorous analysis into actionable policies that can inform both federal policymakers and local implementation.

From there, Fellows joined the Southwest Business Improvement District (SW BID) for a working lunch and neighborhood tour. The visit grounded earlier policy discussions in a hyper-local context, illustrating how place-based organizations operationalize housing strategies through community engagement, economic development, and public space management. For many Fellows, the SW BID exemplified how housing outcomes are inseparable from broader neighborhood concerns and challenges.

“Meeting with experts across research, policy, and law highlighted how interdisciplinary housing issues are,” said Fellow Angela Ye. “From the Southwest BID's grassroots engagement to the NLC's role in drafting federal legislation, it was inspiring to see change happening at so many levels. D.C. is a special city to see how ideas and advocacy are translated into policy and action.”

In the afternoon, Fellows visited the National League of Cities (NLC), engaging with advocacy, policy, and housing teams on the mechanics of federal-local alignment. The conversation focused on how municipal priorities—particularly around housing supply, zoning reform, and affordability—are translated into federal legislative agendas. Fellows gained insight into coalition-building strategies and the complexity of advancing housing policy across jurisdictionsfor 19,000 cities, towns and villages across America

Pragat Patel reflected on the experience: “The trip reframed how I think about the ‘last mile’ of policy. The hardest part isn’t generating good research but ensuring that research actually survives contact with reality.”

The day concluded at Penn Washington with Jim Gray of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, who emphasized land use as a central lever in addressing housing constraints. Discussions explored federal support for housing affordability, and the regulatory barriers that shape housing supply.

Across each stop, the imperative to align research with action emerged, noted Fellow Jeremy Morton.  “I was most impressed by how the various think tanks, BIDs, and policy groups we visited focused on performing research rooted in platforms of change. Instead of simply publishing reports for research's sake, all we visited understood the need to align research with action. Morton noted that each stop highlighted the need for accessibility and pragmatic, straightforward language to disseminate clear ideas. 

Hosted in part by Penn IUR Advisory Board Member Melanie Nussdorf, the trip underscored the program’s objective to equipping students with a nuanced, interdisciplinary understanding of urban challenges while exposing them to the leaders actively shaping housing policy today.

Applications for the 2026-27 cohort of fellows are open until June 1. For more information on the Fellows in Urban Leadership program and to apply, visit https://penniur.upenn.edu/student-programs/penn-iur-fellows-in-urban-leadership.