UROP Project

Housing, Housing Affordability, Housing Choice Vouchers, Impact Fees, Data, Data Analysis, Policy Research, Policy Writing, Economics

Research Mentor: Shane Dabney,
Department, College, Affiliation: DeVoe Moore Center, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: smd18j@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor): Samuel Staley
Research Assistant Supervisor Email: sstaley@fsu.edu
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: No
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors.
May be of interest to Economics, Public Policy, Public Administration, Urban Planning, Sociology, Philosophy, Statistics, Political Science, and Computer Science, and others.
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 10,
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Recording: https://fsu.zoom.us/rec/share/tsLNsRavw3oxb1WsNo-WVmMAtdJ5DhQAR4xLe_kKDx_E-mEkC6aETTtqKu0MQDmN.n16IuDYRhjXKJJli?startTime=1725553713000

Project Description

This work will contribute to the DeVoe Moore Center Housing Affordability research initiative, which focuses on examining economic and policy literature, collecting and analyzing housing data, and uncovering insights to inform policies aimed at improving housing affordability, particularly in Florida.

The primary focus of this research is on Housing Choice Vouchers. The project aims to determine the national HCV gap—the disparity between the number of eligible households and the number of available vouchers—while also investigating issues specific to Florida's housing market.

The research involves applying a specialized methodology to clean and analyze housing data, expanding from Florida to a nationwide scale.
Additionally, the project will involve collecting data from Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) in Florida and analyzing the mechanisms behind certain phenomena related to HCV allocation. This work is part of a broader effort to understand and address housing affordability challenges.

There may also be an opportunity to collaborate with other team members working on related aspects of housing affordability. For instance, the project may include work related to economic analysis of Impact Fees on housing development in Florida.

Research Tasks: Literature review, data collection, data analysis, data visualization, data cleaning and preparation, policy writing, reading and understanding the economics of housing and housing policy. Depending on student interest and ability, tasks may also include Python algorithm development and custom data processing.



Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: Ambition and a strong drive to contribute to meaningful research, ability to think creatively and outside the box, strong analytical skills, a commitment to consistently show up and engage fully in assigned tasks, ability to work collaboratively in a research team.

Recommended: Familiarity with or interest in housing policy and the economics of housing, experience with data analysis tools (e.g., Excel, R, Python), knowledge of data visualization techniques, experience with policy writing, proficiency in conducting literature reviews, basic understanding of working with data, basic programming skills (particularly in Python), public speaking, and presenting findings to stakeholders.

If you don’t have these skills but are eager to learn and acquire them, please apply!