Inside MMC

Home — Politics and Human Rights—PHR Professor’s Research on Equity During COVID-19 Published in ‘Urban Democracy Lab’

PHR Professor’s Research on Equity During COVID-19 Published in ‘Urban Democracy Lab’

Marnie Brady, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Politics and Human Rights, recently published Private Equity is Coming: The Future of Housing Security in the Age of COVID-19, one in a series of research papers published in collaboration with NYU’s Urban Democracy Lab.

Dr. Brady’s research argues that continued financialization of housing will come at the expense of renters, in particular, and community health.

“Our research into the past foreclosure crisis tells us that without strong protections to allow people to stay in their homes, real estate investors such as large private equity firms stand to profit from and exacerbate the ongoing housing crisis,” Dr. Brady explains.

A long-time advocate of community solutions to the crisis of housing affordability, Dr. Brady remarks that more than 30 million renters in the U.S. face debt burden, eviction, and houselessness in 2021. “Let us not exacerbate and prolong the many hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic with a penalty tomorrow for those who do not have income today,” says Dr. Brady.

The series of research papers also includes an analysis of rent relief, as well as a proposal for a new federal mechanism for social housing.

Congratulations Dr. Brady!

Published: January 06, 2021