Diane Levy is a principal research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Since joining Urban in 1998, her work has focused broadly on low- and moderate-income housing and neighborhoods, including studies of housing conditions; the effects of federal and local programs on residents and neighborhoods; implementation and viability of housing provision models, such as mixed-income housing and affordable housing development via inclusionary zoning; and housing discrimination through paired-testing methodologies.

Through a new line of research, Levy is exploring relationships between climate change and community development and governance issues—for example, how local jurisdictions develop and implement climate adaptation and mitigation plans. Her expertise in qualitative research methods has led to opportunities to join research teams focused on other subject areas, such as work examining the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and the Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Levy is a proud alumna of Earlham College. She earned master’s degrees in anthropology and city and regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.