I believe in using research and collaboration to identify and drive changes in systems that determine families’ access to housing and opportunity (whether by moving or by having their local neighborhoods transformed) in the hopes of advancing racial equity and helping all city residents reach their highest potential.
Lydia Lo is a senior research associate in the Housing and Communities Division and associate director of the Land Use Lab at the Urban Institute. Her research focuses on how state and local policies shape housing affordability, neighborhood opportunity, and family well-being. A quantitative, qualitative, and spatial researcher, Lo studies land use and zoning, community development systems, and local policy tools that support families’ access to affordable housing, transit, child care, and safe neighborhoods. Lo has led and managed research on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Choice Demonstration, zoning and transit-oriented development policies, housing supply and population forecasts, national land-use and community development surveys, and cross-sector initiatives to advance equity and homeownership. She has consulted for state, regional, and local governments across the US, and her written work has appeared in the Journal of the American Planning Association, Shelterforce, and CityLab, among other publications. Lo received her BA in political science from St. Olaf College and her MPA with a certificate in urban planning and policy from Princeton University.
