Devlin Hanson is a principal research associate in the Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population at the Urban Institute. She is a labor economist, specializing in rigorous impact evaluations, whose research focuses on housing, child welfare, and veterans. She leads the impact study of the Denver Supportive Housing Social Impact Bond, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation of supportive housing for people who are homeless and cycle in and out of the criminal justice system. She also leads impact evaluations of two multisite RCTs: one of supportive housing for homeless families involved in child welfare and one of a high school internship program. In addition, Hanson leads an evaluation of the Education and Training Voucher program, which provides educational vouchers for youth aging out of foster care, and she is working on a project that seeks to build the evidence base in child welfare through rigorous evaluation. Hanson is currently working on an evaluation of the Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program and previously led an implementation and feasibility study of an evaluation of the United Services Military Apprenticeship Program.

Hanson also has experience as an evaluator in pay for success. In addition to her work on the Denver Supportive Housing pay for success project, she is designing two rigorous pay for success evaluations and providing technical assistance on impact evaluations of supportive housing programs in the pay for success context. She received her PhD from Boston College.