Boston University Associate Professors of Political Science Katherine Levine Einstein, David Glick, and Maxwell Palmer received the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA) Open Door Champion Award for their research on the local politics of housing.
Einstein, Glick, and Palmer published a peer-reviewed article and book, Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis, in 2019, which exposed the deep inequities in America’s housing permitting process. Part of their research involved investigating sentiments about housing development in Boston.
“We are so honored to have received this award for our research and community engagement on housing policy,” Einstein said.
After presenting their research to audiences outside of academia, the team shared their findings with local and national nonprofits such as CHAPA, government officials, and community development corporations. CHAPA awarded the three for their work on fair housing in Massachusetts.
“This award is very gratifying to us because it reflects one of our key goals in our housing research: to produce work that is academically rigorous but also accessible and helpful to policymakers,” Palmer said. “We have had the opportunity to both share our work with and to learn from state lawmakers, city officials and policymakers, nonprofits, housing developers, activists, and many others working to alleviate the housing crisis, and it is exciting to see how our book and other work has helped shape some policy changes.”
Einstein, Glick, and Palmer joined the BU Arts & Sciences faculty in 2012, 2011, and 2014 respectively. Combined, they have a range of expertise in subjects such as urban politics and policy, racial and ethnic politics, and local politics and housing.
The CHAPA Open Door Champion Award honors those who are making an impact in the sphere of fair housing. Some of Einstein, Glick, and Palmer’s work, which has been covered by The Boston Globe and other media outlets, can be found on their website.