Planning Colloquium 3/5/2024: Mary Cunningham

Homelessness is a solvable problem

Mary Cunningham, Urban Institute, Washington, DC

Over 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness in January 2023, a 12 percent rise from 2022 and the highest reported level since 2007. With rising rents and the end of COVID-19 eviction protections, more people became homeless for the first time than in previous years; even more troubling, 2023 marked the first increase in family homelessness since 2012. Mary Cunningham, a leading national expert on homelessness, will dig into the causes and consequences of homelessness and then focus on what the U.S. needs to do to address this crisis.

Speaker

Mary K. Cunningham is senior vice president for research management and program development at the Urban Institute, overseeing Urban’s research and policy centers. Previously, she was Urban’s vice president for metropolitan housing and communities policy, whose researchers and policy experts work to bolster affordable housing, eradicate homelessness, facilitate land-use and zoning reform for equitable development, improve transportation access, foster opportunity-rich neighborhoods and cities, and fortify communities against the challenges of climate change. As a researcher, she studied housing and homelessness for more than 25 years. She holds an MPP from Georgetown University.