I am a postdoctoral research associate at Washington University’s School of Public Health. My research examines how landlord practices—such as evictions and alternative home financing—emerge and operate, with the goal of informing housing policies to better protect tenants. My academic work has been published in Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Cities, Socius, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, and Cities & Health.

📚 Research Areas

• Landlord Practices: Investigating the patterns of landlord practices, including eviction filings, housing code violations, and alternative home financing arrangements such as Contract for Deed (CFD) and Rent-to-Own (RTO).

• Eviction Prevention: Assessing the effectiveness of eviction prevention initiatives, including tenant Right to Counsel (RTC) programs, COVID-19 eviction moratoriums, and Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs.

• Housing, Climate Resilience, and Health: Examining the connections between affordable housing programs, community resilience to extreme weather events, and residents’ health, with a focus on the U.S. Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) and Brazil’s Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV).

📺 Media Coverage

My research on subsidized housing evictions has been featured in:

• The Oregonian/OregonLive: “Oregon affordable housing landlords filed thousands of evictions in recent years, study finds”
• KOIN 6 News (Video): “Oregon saw over 5K recent affordable housing eviction filings, PSU finds”
  • The report highlighted that one in every 10 evictions is a person living in low-income subsidized housing and that these subsidized tenants were more likely to receive an eviction judgment compared to those in unsubsidized housing.

🎓 Education

• Ph.D. in Public Affairs (Minor in Population Studies) – University of Minnesota (2023)
• Master in Urban Planning – Tsinghua University (2018)

📧 Contact

Please feel free to contact me at: yiw1@wustl.edu