Housing instability shapes health, wealth, and opportunity for millions of Americans, yet the landlord practices that drive it and the climate hazards that compound it remain understudied. Using administrative data linkage, spatial analytics, and quasi-experimental methods, I examine how these dynamics 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 tenant right to counsel has been featured in:

• St. Louis Public Radio: “A St. Louis program aimed to prevent evictions. A short-term rental fee could help sustain it”

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: “Oregon saw over 5K recent affordable housing eviction filings, PSU finds”

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