ULI’s Building Healthy Places Book Club Summer 2023 Selection:
“Homelessness is a Housing Problem: How Structural Factors Explain U.S. Patterns”

Join us in June for our summer session on Homelessness is a Housing Problem by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Aldern. The book seeks to explain the substantial variation in rates of homelessness apparent in cities across the United States. Using accessible statistics, the researchers test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain why, for example, rates are so much higher in Seattle than in Chicago. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a more convincing explanation.

The Building Healthy Places Book Club is supported by ULI Foundation Governor Randall Lewis.

THE SCHEDULE: June 19 – July 13, 2023

• Reading Kickoff, June 19 | Participants will receive a Book Club 101 email outlining how the Book Club will work, along with the suggested 4-week reading schedule.
• Virtual Meetup: Talk with the Author, July 13, 3 pm ET via Zoom | At the close of the reading period, author Gregg Colburn will share his personal story and motivations for writing the book; Allison Clark of the MacArthur Foundation will lead a fireside chat and Q&A discussion with the audience and Gregg.
• Weekly Thought Prompts | In weekly emails, the author will offer observations and questions to guide your reading. Weekly emails will align with the four-week suggested reading schedule.

READ WITH US

• Participation is free with registration.
• Participants receive a Book Club 101 email, along with the suggested reading schedule; links to the virtual meetups; and weekly thought prompts via email.
• Meetups are scheduled for 75 minutes.
• Reading the book or listening to the audiobook is recommended but not required to participate.

SPEAKERS & MODERATORS

Gregg Colburn is an assistant professor of real estate at the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments. He has published research on housing and homelessness in journals like Urban Studies, Housing Studies, Urban Affairs Review, and Housing Policy Debate. Gregg holds a PhD and an MSW from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Northwestern University. Prior to academia, he worked as an investment banker and private equity professional. Gregg is also a member of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Family Homelessness Evaluation Committee and co-chair of the University of Washington’s Homelessness Research Initiative.

Gregg can be reached via email or on Twitter @ColburnGregg.

Allison Clark has worked in affordable housing, economic development, and commercial real estate for over 25 years. She joined the MacArthur Foundation in 2006 to oversee investments made through the Foundation’s $150 million Window of Opportunity affordable rental housing preservation initiative. Her work has expanded to include underwriting and monitoring investments made in Chicago. Allison serves as a core member of the Chicago Commitment team, where she leads impact investing efforts to advance both the Vital Communities and Culture, Equity, and the Arts programs. Allison, graduated from Harvard-Radcliffe College with a bachelor’s degree in government and earned a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Real Estate.