Jasmine Fuller wants to reframe how public policymakers think about homelessness. She believes that there is too much emphasis on getting rid of encampments and too little on securing lasting housing solutions. “The evidence shows that encampment sweeps don’t work,” said Fuller, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in economics at Howard University.
Her research tracks the outcomes of New York City’s NYPD-led sweeps of homeless encampments. She found that many cleared camps return within weeks and only a small fraction of displaced individuals accept city-offered shelter.
“A more effective and humane solution,” she observed, “is a housing-first approach.”
Fuller’s research is one of several socially relevant studies emerging from Howard University’s Center of Excellence in Housing and Urban Research and Policy, known as CHURP. Funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the research center engages students and faculty to confront the nation’s toughest housing and inequality challenges. From rent regulation to generational wealth transfer, the center aims to amplify the voices of the underserved and influence policy through rigorous, data-driven research.
“The research that CHURP is doing has immediate relevance,” said young CHURP economist Joseph Dean (M.A. ’20). “We’re looking at issues that affect people’s ability to live with dignity — housing, rent, affordability. These are not abstract problems.” CHURP was built on a half-century of Howard-led urban research. Launched in 2021 with a $4.5 million grant from HUD, its roots trace back to the 1970s Institute for Urban Affairs and the Center for Urban Progress. Today, the center serves as the headquarters for dozens of fellows, assistants, and staff members, all contributing in different ways.
“That’s part of what makes CHURP feel alive,” Dean added.
CHUP is a research hub dedicated to addressing structural inequalities and improving the well-being of underserved communities through policy-informed research. In addition to economics and social work scholarship, CHURP partners with computer science faculty to equip students with research and analytical skills needed to compete in a rapidly evolving policy environment. The center also houses the Center on Race and Wealth , further reinforcing its mission to challenge structural inequality.
“Our vision is different from most research organizations,” said Haydar Kurban, Ph.D., professor of economics and CHURP’s founding director.
“We are here to raise the voices of the underserved, to make sure they are part of the policy process — and the struggle, if that’s what’s needed.”
Nowhere is that more apparent than in the view from the street in today’s major cities. Standing on the sidewalk outside CHURP’s temporary home on Florida Avenue NW, Kurban reflected on the shifting dynamics of urban life.
“The face of the city has been changed — replaced by a luxury high-rise,” Kurban says. “That’s the story of urban development today: displacement, exclusion, erasure.”
Kurban said his interest in big cities and urban policy was sparked by his youth in Istanbul.
He is part of a Kurdish family, a minority group in Turkey, and said he understands what it means to be excluded. At the same time, he saw cities as natural cosmopolitan spaces that bring people together from different backgrounds, classes, and regions.
“That’s part of their power and also part of the tension,” Kurban says. “In cities, there’s anonymity. There’s also opportunity. That’s why I believe urban policy matters.”
Under Kurban’s leadership, CHURP has tackled wide-ranging issues, including gentrification, tenant leadership in public housing, disaster recovery, and rent control. One of the center’s newest initiatives focuses on rent regulation in high-cost cities. In a recent policy discussion, Kurban joined other nationally recognized experts to analyze the effectiveness of rent control laws across major metropolitan areas, examining how such policies impact affordability, displacement, and racial equity. He says what sets CHURP apart is a focus on finding fresh ways to tackle big social issues through research.
According to Dean, preliminary findings from the center’s ongoing research show that rent-controlled, or rent-stabilized, units are spread throughout the city. Eligibility is largely based on a building’s age, with most properties constructed before 1975 falling under rent stabilization rules. The research also indicates that rent-controlled apartments are typically less expensive than non-controlled units and often offer larger floor plans, giving tenants more value per square foot.
Dean and other CHURP researchers are building a comprehensive dataset to compare prices, locations, and property features and to verify data used in recent reports. The work could also play a role in identifying patterns of rent gouging and price-fixing, issues that have been the subject of recent legal and regulatory challenges.
For example, in her study of homeless encampment sweeps, Fuller analyzed data from 311 service calls, Department of Sanitation records, and Freedom of Information Act requests to assess the policy’s impact. She found that 31% of the encampments returned within a year, and only 5% of individuals contacted during sweeps accepted shelter.
More concerning, she found that the majority of those offered services did not remain in housing long term, and their belongings were often discarded in the process. Fuller concluded that the sweeps did little to reduce homelessness and may have caused more harm than good by destabilizing vulnerable communities without offering meaningful alternatives.
Instead, guided by her research, Fuller advocates for “housing first” strategies that prioritize providing permanent housing without requiring sobriety or participation in treatment programs upfront.
“The fact that encampments return so quickly shows that the fundamental issues, including the lack of stable housing, aren’t being addressed,” Fuller said. “Sweeps create the illusion of action, but they’re not a long-term solution. Cities need programs that are sound but also rooted in dignity and equity for people experiencing homelessness.”
CHURP remains committed to providing hands-on training opportunities for emerging scholars.
Dean says he is developing as an analyst through his work on the rent control study, which pays particular attention to the impact on Black renters. The work has included merging property tax data with exemption records to build a dataset of rent-controlled units. He has also learned how to scrape online rental listings to compare prices between regulated and unregulated buildings. Another part of the project focuses on mapping where rent-controlled properties are concentrated and how those areas intersect with patterns of gentrification.
“The debate over rent control is often politicized and oversimplified,” Dean said. “In our research, we are using granular data to evaluate the real effects on vulnerable communities.”
Unfortunately, Kurban says the current political climate presents major challenges. Public sector support for diversity-focused research has started to tighten dramatically, and securing external funding has become more competitive. Still, he stands by the center’s real-world impact and the researchers who make it happen.
“We have a top-notch group of students, postgrads, and faculty,” Kurban said. “They come with lived experience, and we train them in rigorous methods. That’s what sets us apart, and that’s what ensures our sustainability as a center.”
Kurban’s refrain is that research must be rigorous to make a difference.
“We are not just trying to publish for the sake of publishing,” he said. “We want impact.”
Article ID: 2381