The department of economics at historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C., has announced the establishment of the Housing, Urban and Economic Development Research Center.
The center’s goal is to achieve an equitable and inclusionary society where currently underserved populations come to be properly served and inequities in housing, health, education, economic well-being, and community development are overcome through research and policy implementation.
The center will conduct research on the topics of housing and economic development, particularly in underserved communities. Haydar Kurban, a professor in the department of economics, submitted proposals to carry out a series of reports focused on housing, community and economic development in underserved communities that can serve as national, local, or regional benchmarks and will also assist other HBCUs in creating additional centers of excellence that expand the housing and community development research efforts at their campuses.
“Building on the urban research and engagement legacy of Howard University’s Center on Race and Wealth and Center for Urban Progress, our team of researchers and partners are excited to further advance our goals,” said Dr. Kurban. “The high-quality, data-driven research and policy analysis of our researchers at Howard and at partnering institutions will surely contribute to these goals.”
The establishment of the center was made possible by a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is proud to forge new partnerships with academia to build on research and innovation that will better inform the housing and community development needs of historically underserved communities,” said Marcia L. Fudge, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Talk about higher education HYPOCRISY. Ole no good Howard University cannot even provide adequate and safe housing for its OWN students at Howard University. Howard University has the Chutzpah to start another “paper tiger” research institute that only give the optical appearance of seriously solving these ongoing salient issues.
In other words, Howard University will be literally copying what the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute is already doing. Once again, we have another so-called HBCU being led by people are not part of the native born Black American community. What a pity!