Stefanie DeLuca
Stefanie DeLuca is a sociologist and the James Coleman Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at Johns Hopkins University. DeLuca is also the Director of the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab. She co-wrote the book, Coming of Age in the Other America. DeLuca received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University in 2002 and bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Sociology at the University of Chicago.
Click here for her CV.
Biography
Stefanie DeLuca is the James Coleman Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the Johns Hopkins University, where she directs the Social Policy Program and the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab. Her research uses sociological perspectives to inform education and housing policy. She has conducted mixed-methods studies that incorporate qualitative research into experimental or quasi-experimental designs. Some of her work focuses on the long-term effects of programs to help low-income families relocate to safer neighborhoods and better schools through housing vouchers. Based on some of this work with young adults in the Baltimore site of the Moving to Opportunity program, Stefanie wrote a book, Coming of Age in the Other America (with Susan Clampet-Lundquist and Kathryn Edin), which was named an Outstanding Academic Title from the American Library Association, and won the William F. Goode Award from the American Sociological Association. Stefanie has also been awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Fellowship and a William T. Grant Foundation Scholars Award. Her work has been funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Science Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Spencer Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Abell Foundation, National Academy of Education, Gates Foundation and the Department of Education. She contributes frequently to national and local media, including the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Governing and National Public Radio. She currently serves on a Federal Research Advisory Commission at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was recently named Scholar of the Year by the National Alliance of Resident Services in Assisted and Affordable Housing. Stefanie has been invited to share her research to support policy recommendations at the federal level at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and has provided briefings and testimony for several state legislatures and in federal court on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Baltimore Thompson v. HUD housing desegregation case. She has presented her work as part of an exhibit at the National Museum of American History, and has received the Johns Hopkins University Alumni Excellence in Teaching Award.
Research
Creating Moves to Opportunity (CMTO)
The CMTO program aims to reduce rental barriers and support families in moving to high opportunity neighborhoods. Our researchers are engaged in qualitative data collection and analysis in partnership with the Seattle and King County Housing Authorities, Opportunity Insights, MDRC, and more.
Rational Responses to Uncertainty - "Ed Shocks"
This mixed methods study with Nicholas Papageorge (Economics, JHU) examines how beliefs about educational attainment and anticipated adverse shocks (e.g., evictions, incarcerations or deaths of family members, or violence) relate to educational plans and actual attainment for disadvantaged youth.
Housing abandonment is pervasive in Baltimore city. This study examines the origins of that abandonment by interviewing landlords, property owners, renters, and homeowners who have either divested their real estate portfolio, own abandoned properties, or are maintaining properties in areas with significant levels of abandonment. By understanding what causes landlords to walk away from their once valuable assets, we hope to inform public policy that can reduce divestment in the future.
This longitudinal, mixed methods study of white, black and Latino families in Cleveland and Dallas examines how housing choices intersect with the many challenges low to moderate income families face, and how the inevitable tradeoffs involved in choosing a residence affect child development.
Baltimore Housing Mobility Program Study
This study capitalizes on a unique housing assistance program to explore whether improvements in housing access translate into gains in educational achievement for poor minority children.
In April 2015, amidst the unrest following the death of Freddie Gray, national and local media were quick to cast the youth in Baltimore as “thugs” and troublemakers. However, these media accounts were nearly devoid of the voices of youth themselves. To discover these voices, the Hearing Their Voices team at the Poverty and Inequality Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University conducted in-depth interviews with 58 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 from some of Baltimore’s most impoverished neighborhoods.
Do Place-Based Interventions Increase Neighborhood Opportunity?
This study examines how the Baltimore community of Sandtown-Winchester has been affected by an intense urban redevelopment project, the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, which has taken place over the past two decades.
MTOQ10: Low-Income Youth, Neighborhoods, and Housing Mobility in Baltimore
This qualitative study conducts interviews with youth aged 15-24 who moved with the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) program. These interviews focus on education, employment, risky behavior, family formation, and mental health, delving into the rich array of social processes and contextual factors that may underlie differing outcomes for youth and their transition to early adulthood.
Brokering the Geography of Opportunity - Three City Landlord Study
Landlords and property managers have significant influence on housing and neighborhood quality for poor families. We examine how landlords who provide affordable or subsidized housing make investment, maintenance, screening, and leasing decisions.
Tempting the Opportunity Landlord
This study examines how landlords who provide affordable or subsidized housing make investment, maintenance, screening, and leasing decisions in Dallas, Cleveland, and Baltimore, especially since landlords and property managers have significant influence on housing and neighborhood quality for poor families.
Moving Matters: Residential Mobility, Neighborhoods and Family in the Lives of Poor Adolescents
This project is a multi-method study of how residential mobility, family structure and schooling are tied together to affect youth outcomes. Overall objectives of the study include: Understanding how housing policy affects mobility and school changes and understanding the conditions under which housing instability is perpetuated.
Current Funding
2020-2024. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Seattle Housing Authority Mobility from Poverty Pilot.” (PI, Sub-Award through Seattle Housing Authority) ($298,361).
2021-2023. Smith Richardson Foundation. "How High-Achieving Low-Income Students Respond to Targeted Financial Aid." (PI with Susan Dynarski) ($50,000).
2020-2021. University of Michigan, Poverty Solutions. “College Decision-making and Financial Aid.” (Co-PI with Susan Dynarski) ($20,000).
2019-2021. Overdeck Family Foundation. “Creating Moves to Opportunity: Understanding Experimental Outcomes through Family Experiences.” (PI, Sub-Award from Opportunity Insights/Harvard University) ($345,280).
2019-2022. Russell Sage Foundation. “Rational Responses to Uncertainty: Understanding Disadvantaged Youths’ Post-Secondary Education Choices.” (Co-PI w Nicholas Papageorge) ($171,182).
2019-2020. William T. Grant Foundation. “Creating Moves to Opportunity for Families and Children: Using Mixed Methods to Understand Policy Mechanisms.” (PI) ($49,077).
2018-2019. Annie E. Casey Foundation/Poverty and Race Research Action Council. “Tempting the Opportunity Landlord: What Convinces Landlords to Accept Voucher Holders in Low-Poverty Areas?” (PI) ($20,000).
2016-2019. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Who Is Moving In? Repopulation, Reinvestment, and Pathways to Revitalization in East Baltimore and Greater Homewood (Co-PI w Kathryn Edin, Philip Garboden, Christine Jang) ($839,429)
2016-2019. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Mobility from Poverty: A Pilot Intervention in Seattle and King County.” (Co-PI w Raj Chetty, Lawrence Katz, Nathan Hendren, Peter Bergman, Christopher Palmer, Seattle Housing Authority, King County Housing Authority) ($3M, all costs for intervention only)
2015-2017. MacArthur Foundation. “How Parents House Kids and How Landlords Broker the Geography of Opportunity.” (Co-PI w Kathryn Edin) ($100,000)
2015-2018. Spencer Foundation. “Switching Schools and Navigating Neighborhoods: Can Housing Vouchers Improve Educational Achievement for Low Income Minority Youth?” (PI) ($292,000)
2015-2016. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. “Hearing Their Voices: Baltimore Youth’s Perceptions After Freddie Gray.” (Co-PI w Kathryn Edin) ($79,000)
2014-2016. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. “Divestment and Abandonment in Baltimore, MD.” (Co-PI w Kathryn Edin) ($99,000)
2014-2015. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Moving to Opportunity: Platform for Improving Health.” (Co-PI with C. Pollack and R. Thornton) ($76,000).
2013-2017. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Brokering the Geography of Opportunity: How Landlords Affect Access to Housing and Neighborhood Quality Among HUD Assisted Renters.” (Co-PI w Kathryn Edin) ($401,000).
2012-2017. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. “How Parents House Kids: Residential Decisions, Financial Tradeoffs and Parenting Among Low to Moderate Income Families with Young Children”. (Co-PI w Kathryn Edin) ($750,000)