Where you can afford to live influences much of the rest of your life: Access to schools, medical care, fresh groceries, air pollution levels and, ultimately, your chance to get ahead and climb the ladder of economic mobility.
The Charlotte region continues to grapple with rising housing costs that contribute to segregation and inequality. That’s why our first Schul Conversation this spring is about housing affordability, development regulations and the availability of different housing choices throughout our community.
Join us at noon on April 20 to discuss these issues in a virtual panel discussion moderated by Dr. Lori Thomas, the Urban Institute’s Director of Research and Faculty Engagement.
[Registration for this event has closed]
Meet our Panelists
Our panel will include Taiwo Jaiyeoba, Deputy City Manager for the city of Charlotte.
As Charlotte’s chief planner, Jaiyeoba is leading the overhaul of Charlotte’s zoning and land use regulations, with an emphasis on greater housing diversity throughout the city.
Dr. Dan Threet, a researcher with the National Low Income Housing Coalition, will join the panel to provide a national perspective.
Threet’s research is a key component of the coalition’s annual “Out of Reach” report, which illustrates the gap between what low-income renters can afford and how much housing actually costs in each state.
And Dr. Thomas Mayock, associate professor of economics in the Belk College of Business, will also participate in the discussion.
Through the Gambrell Faculty Fellows program, Mayock and his research partner Dr. Kelly Vosters are working to examine the changing housing market, specifically the proliferation of single-family rental housing since the 2008 recession in neighborhoods that were previously almost exclusively owner-occupied. They're looking at the connection to economic mobility, specifically the question, "Have low- and moderate-income renter households used this increase in housing opportunity to move their children to higher-performing public schools?”
About the Schul Forum Series
This is the first of five planned Schul Conversations, to be held in advance of the Urban Institute’s signature annual convening.
- April 20: Affordable Housing & Economic Mobility
- May 25: Transportation & Economic Mobility
- August: Health Disparities
- September: Racial Wealth Gap & Economic Mobility
- October: Role of Workforce Development
- November Schul Forum: Moving the Needle in Charlotte and beyond.
The Marianne M. & Norman W. Schul Urban Institute Forum Series was established in 2018 to serve as an annual event focused on policy issues affecting the Charlotte region, convening local leaders, national experts and researchers from the institute and other parts of UNC Charlotte. The institute's first director, Dr. Norm Schul, and his wife, Marianne ‘73, enabled the creation of the series with a generous gift.
This year’s Schul Forum will focus on economic mobility, as well as showcasing the research of the institute’s Gambrell Faculty Fellows.
