The Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University (IHS) at the Driehaus College of Business received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support its mission to produce research that informs housing policy and practice in the Chicago region.

“We’re excited to continue our long-standing partnership with the MacArthur Foundation through this latest substantial investment in our applied research and technical assistance work,” says Geoff Smith, executive director of the IHS. “This funding will advance our efforts to help local housing and community development stakeholders be data-informed as they develop, implement and evaluate strategies for tackling the region’s affordable housing challenges.”

The grant supports the IHS’s ongoing research, which includes rental housing reports, price index updates and briefs on emerging Chicago-area housing policy topics. Smith says it also will fund new inquiries that probe “how the COVID-19 economy is affecting Chicago neighborhoods, especially historically underinvested communities, and what an equitable recovery could look like.”