Housing instability shapes health, wealth, and opportunity for millions of Americans — yet the landlord practices that drive it remain understudied. Using administrative data linkage, spatial analytics, and quasi-experimental methods, I examine how problematic landlord practices emerge and operate, and evaluate whether housing policies aimed at improving residential stability actually work.

My research spans public policy, urban planning, and public health, and has been published in Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Planning Education and Research, Cities, Journal of Urban Affairs, 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 the use of 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.
  • St. Louis City Eviction Representation Dashboard
• Housing, Climate Resilience, and Health: Examining the connections between affordable housing programs, community resilience to extreme weather, and residents’ health, with a focus on the U.S. Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) and Brazil’s Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV).
  • MCMV Climate Resilience Tracker

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 – University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
• Master in Urban Planning – Tsinghua University
• Bachelor of Engineering in Urban Planning – Tianjin University

Contact

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