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Jennifer Biess
Former employee

Jennifer Biess is a research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Since arriving at Urban in 2011, her research has focused on homelessness, housing stability, and the role of housing as a platform for other outcomes as well as the needs of Native American and Alaska Native communities.

Biess graduated magna cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois, with a BA in sociology and political science with a concentration in comparative politics. She interned at NORC at the University of Chicago, where she played an integral role in studying telephone survey nonresponse through the use of focus groups and content analysis. She also researched the effectiveness of housing programs for the rural communities of the Scottish Highlands while interning at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.