Dr. Megan E. Hatch, Associate Professor and PhD Program Director at Levin, and Co-PIs Dr. Michael Overton and Bruce Godfrey of the University of Idaho, and Dr. Eric Stokan of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, have been awarded nearly $250,000 by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to study the impacts of certain HUD grants on housing and social equity. Over the next two years, the team will work to uncover what impacts Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) activities have on equity outcomes, as defined by metrics that capture the disparity of social or economic conditions between disadvantaged and more affluent groups. They will conduct their research in three phases: first, they will develop indices of neighborhood deprivation and economic growth potential; second, they will examine the differential impact of CDBG and HOME activities on a broad range of housing and social equity outcomes; and third, they will identify the threshold effects of CDBG and HOME activities required to impact equity outcomes. According to the research team, the effectiveness of CDBG programs and HOME activities is usually measured by economic indicators and property sale prices; however, these methods do not account for the housing and social impacts that CDBG and HOME have across income groups, gender, race, and ethnicity. Through their research, the team plans to bridge this gap in knowledge and help HUD and local administrators strategically address issues related to equity.