It is so important to remember that data are people

Our nation is bitterly divided over its vision for democracy or whether to remain a democracy at all. Increasingly, elected leaders on school boards, state legislatures and Capitol Hill, are using their policy making powers to further marginalize vulnerable constituents.. The discord, amplified relentlessly on social media, often tells only a portion of the story. We hear less about the problems-solvers, the nonprofits that meet human needs, engage communities and generate solutions to systemic problems, from hunger to housing and homelessness. The Urban Institute, founded in 1968 to advance President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty, enriches these organizations and all sectors with rigorous research and unimpeachable data about an array of societal challenges. It also convenes stakeholders, from municipal leaders to academics and people with lived experience, to share research findings and discuss strategies for advancing equity. This episode features Urban Institute Senior Fellow Samantha Batko, whose community informed research answers critical policy questions about housing and homelessness. We start with this unsettling truth, that on any given night in America some ¼ million people experience unsheltered homelessness. Sam is a tremendous champion of housing justice rooted in evidence-based data. Hear her.