Housing/Homelessness – Building State Capability

Using Zoning to Reduce the Affordable Housing Crisis in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Publication date March 12, 2025

Guest blog by Melissa Velez, IPP ’24 The experiences and learning within the Implementing Public Policy course helped me to look deeper into the problems faced within my city, gave me a step-by-step process to work through those problems with my team, and encouraged me to reflect on my personal leadership and time management skills….Continue Reading Using Zoning to Reduce the Affordable Housing Crisis in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Expanding Affordable Housing in Lagos, Nigeria

Publication date May 3, 2024

Guest blog by Akinderu Fatai Moruf, IPP’23 In 2019, I was privileged to assume the role of Commissioner of Housing in Lagos State, the commercial capital of Nigeria with a large population of about 23 million. I was entrusted with the pivotal task of spearheading strategic initiatives to facilitate the expansion of affordable housing. Apart…Continue Reading Expanding Affordable Housing in Lagos, Nigeria

Navigating the Ukrainian Refugee Housing Crisis in MA using PDIA

Publication date April 5, 2024

Guest blog written by Bibek Kandel, Sansar Dewan, Pratik Kunwar, Enitan Okediji “Not everything that matters is written down, it’s all in people’s heads and minds.” This very mantra, shared by Professor Matt Andrews during our initial Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) sessions in late January 2024, resonated deeply as we, Team Maya, embarked on…Continue Reading Navigating the Ukrainian Refugee Housing Crisis in MA using PDIA

Enabling Emerging Developers to Increase Housing Development in New Bedford, MA

Publication date March 22, 2024

Stores and homes overlooking the water in a historic town

Guest blog by Joshua Amaral, LEG’23 I was fortunate to be in a very diverse group, in terms of geographic location, industry, and experience. But given this, I was especially struck by the similarities, or common threads, that ran between all of our economic growth challenges. My challenge is a fairly small one in the…Continue Reading Enabling Emerging Developers to Increase Housing Development in New Bedford, MA

Insufficient Housing in Western Australia

Publication date October 19, 2023

Guest blog by Jason Whiteaker, LEG’23 I came into this program thinking about how the program would help me identify solutions to the growth challenges being faced by my region. Within the first two weeks my thinking had completely changed, moving away from the solution-based approach and very much focusing on identifying the problem /…Continue Reading Insufficient Housing in Western Australia

Sheltering the Unhoused in the St. Louis Region

Publication date June 22, 2023

Group photo of the IPP class standing in the Kennedy Forum

Guest blog by Nancy Cross There were several key learnings from the IPP course. First, one person does not have all the answers. I wanted to work on sheltering the unhoused because it seemed as if there were enough financial resources to provide shelter for the approximately 1500 unhoused people in the greater St. Louis area….Continue Reading Sheltering the Unhoused in the St. Louis Region

Providing Quality Housing in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Publication date June 8, 2023

9 anonymous arms/hands reach towards eachother/touch as if they are going to say a chant as a team

Guest blog by Eileen Cipriani It has been a great pleasure to be part of a class with so many dynamic leaders, doing such diverse and important work and to be part of such an impressive program at the Harvard Kennedy School. After listening to the problems my colleagues were trying to solve, I thought…Continue Reading Providing Quality Housing in Scranton, Pennsylvania

Street Homelessness in Rochester

Publication date May 22, 2023

Guest blog by Charlie Albanese, Michael Burns, Corrinda Crossdale, Wanda Cooper, Linda Kingsley, Tammy Mayberry, Gabe Person, John Oster Our group focused on homelessness, specifically street homelessness. Our public value statement is: “We will tackle street homelessness, particularly homeless individuals residing in City encampments identified by GIS, because everyone in the community should be treated with…Continue Reading Street Homelessness in Rochester

When You Dig In, You’ll Find It: PDIA Gold

Publication date May 11, 2023

Joe N. Savage Jr. pointing to Harvard Kennedy School signage

Guest blog by Joe N. Savage Jr. It was a late Wednesday night as I sat in my room at the DoubleTree hotel. I was sitting comfortably in my desk chair feeling supported by its stern back. My Pepsi Zero was resting in a glass splattered with tiny beads of cool water. My other comfort….Continue Reading When You Dig In, You’ll Find It: PDIA Gold

Go Fish! Tackling Chronic Street Homelessness in Central Beaverton

Publication date May 1, 2023

Guest blog by Mike Backman, Alicia Bermes, Dawn Borgardt, Jenny Haruyama, Kim Haughn, Stacy Jepson, Marni Kuyl, Sia Lindstrom When our team first began our journey to tackle homelessness, we were looking through a fisheye lens. The problem we wanted to tackle was broad, it involved a large area – all of Beaverton – and…Continue Reading Go Fish! Tackling Chronic Street Homelessness in Central Beaverton