In November, voters in the city of Louisville will elect a new mayor and Metro Council. University of Louisville social scientist Lauren Heberle and the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, Louisville’s affordable housing advocacy group, are ready.��

MHC’s 2022 , titled “Toward a Just Future in Uncertain Times,” was released in June. It is the latest annual MHC report written by Heberle, director of the University of Louisville Center for Environmental Policy & Management in the College of Arts & Sciences, along with graduate student researchers.��

Heberle has contributed to the report since 2006 and written it for more than a decade. Kelly Kinahan, a former UofL assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Public Affairs, was co-author since 2017. (Kinahan has since left the university.)��

The report, at 90 pages, is the longest and most comprehensive ever, designed to be the go-to document for newly elected Louisville leaders who need current information on housing. ��

The MHC report is normally published in November, but its schedule was thrown off by the Covid-19 pandemic. That gave MHC and Heberle’s team the chance to “do a real deep dive” before the November election, she said.��

“If you don’t have it documented, it makes it harder to hold folks accountable or keep moving it forward, especially in something as complicated as housing,” Heberle said. ��

The current report will serve as a road map for the new administration. It is jam-packed with tables, charts, maps and graphics used to help MHC and others advocate for housing changes in Louisville. ��

UofL students also contribute mightily to the report, with several taking a lead on data analysis every year. Some are undergraduate students, some are graduate students. Some are sociology majors, while others are from urban and public affairs. ��

This applied research is a “way of teaching them how to make sense and talk about the importance of research for policy change, for social change, for social justice,” Heberle said.��

 “Figuring out how to understand this complicated structure of funding and policy that comes down from the federal government and shapes how Louisville is able to function is a really important learning opportunity for our students,” she added. Students have used their experience working on the report to help them apply for jobs, she said.��

Tony Curtis, executive director of MHC, noted the many years Heberle has worked on the report.��

“Producing this report is not only important to drive the fair, accessible and affordable housing conversation in Louisville and making the best housing data and analysis available for policymakers, advocates, and the community, it is a research and educational tool that Lauren uses to teach her UofL students and give those students the opportunity to engage in research that has real community impact,” Curtis said. “This is the beauty of the State of Metropolitan Housing Report collaboration between MHC, Lauren and her team.”��

There have been some years that the report focused on research topics suggested by Heberle or her students, while other years the report is in response to a specific need or request that MHC has, such as preparing for upcoming legislation.��

“They’ve understood the value of working with students and have seen that work to their benefit over the years,” Heberle said of MHC, “and have been really supportive of our students in that work.”��

As director of the in A&S, Heberle might have two or three graduate students working with her on the MHC report or another project each semester.����

Students bring different interests and talents to the project. “I’ve had folks come to the table saying, ‘I want to learn how to make better maps,’” she said, and they produced maps for the report. Additionally, she and her students often work closely with UofL’s and the .��

Learning how to obtain and report federal census data is a big part of compiling the report. Students learn how to put the information that is available — which fluctuates — into a form that MHC can use for its needs — which also fluctuates. ��

“That’s a learning experience for students,” she said. ��

Heberle also leads community engagement for the created at UofL about five years ago to support research on the cardiometabolic effects of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs). As a social scientist, her focus is community engagement, or working with the public affected by the sites. UofL is one of several universities that conduct research or outreach on the sites .��

Louisville’s areas needing improvement in this system are easy transportation or walkability to workplaces and availability of affordable housing across the city. Students approached this task by mapping out likely areas for transit oriented development or TODs.��

Check out more about their research below:��

Fischer touched on a number of topics including:

• Jobs in west Louisville: “Walmart is dead (but) I think something better there is going to happen anyway” at 18th and Broadway.
• Population growth: “We need more steady growth … we could fit 200,000 more people in the old city because we’ve got land and 6,000 vacant houses.”
• Density: Most of the people developing downtown aren’t from Louisville. Our local developers prefer to build on green space outside the urban core, but “I think they’re missing out on a real opportunity if downtown continues to develop as it is.”
• Affordable housing: “Hot cities are big on affordable housing…great cities are integrated.”
• Immigration: “We want our foreign born population to be around 15 percent by 2025. It’s 8��or 9��percent right now.”
• Light rail: “The numbers just don’t work” and it is not a priority, especially with the federal government requiring matching funds from local governments before investing in large transportation projects.

Several students had questions for the mayor, asking about health and economic help for west Louisville, policing and whether the mayor had any ideas for research projects for students studying urban planning. The mayor tasked one of his aides, UofL graduate Tommy Clark, with getting a list for the students.