Ann Owens
Fellowship year
2024-25 - University of Southern California
Ann Owens will spend her CASBS fellowship interrogating the role of housing in neighborhood and school inequality, guided by two broad questions. First, where should we build affordable housing to provide low-income children access to “high opportunity”? While substantial evidence shows that neighborhoods “matter,” there is less clarity about how they matter. Owens will investigate the neighborhood features most impactful for children’s future economic mobility and well-being and explore how to best translate social science knowledge to housing policy. Second, how do housing and school policies jointly (re)produce inequalities? Student assignment policies that determine the relationship between neighborhoods and schools dictate the effectiveness of housing policies aimed at integration. Owens will explore how housing and school policies interact to identify promising policy combinations for reducing residential and school segregation.
Owens is professor of sociology and public policy at the University of Southern California. Her research centers on the causes and consequences of social inequality, with a focus on urban neighborhoods, housing, education, and geographic and social mobility. With sean f. reardon, Owens co-leads the Segregation Explorer, an initiative that provides comprehensive data and research on residential and school segregation (http://edopportunity.org/segregation). Owens is a William T. Grant Scholar at CASBS.