Leah Hendey is a principal research associate in the Housing and Communities Division at the Urban Institute, where her research focuses on policy to improve urban neighborhoods. She is experienced in transforming national and local administrative datasets to create neighborhood indicators and study neighborhood conditions. Since 2007, Hendey has been involved in Urban’s work with the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP) and serves as its codirector. She provides strategic direction to the network, led an effort to provide technical assistance to build local data intermediary capacity in two sites, and managed NNIP’s work on using Integrated Data Systems to address neighborhood policy problems. 

In addition to research on neighborhoods across the country, Hendey is a key member of the Urban–Greater DC team, an Urban program that seeks to inform policy debate and decisionmaking to address persistent inequalities and improve economic mobility and access to opportunity in the DC region. She has led several projects on the greater DC area, including a survey on residents’ perceptions and attitudes and studies on foreclosure, affordable housing needs, and racial inequities. Hendey holds a master of public policy degree from the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.