Thoughts at the Start

Thoughts at the Start

Katherine O’Regan, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. As I type this message, I have just completed my first full week as Assistant Secretary for PD&R, and this is my first chance to reflect (and breathe). Let me use those reflections as my way of introducing myself and updating you on a few PD&R activities.

I come to PD&R with twenty plus years as a researcher focused on issues at the core of HUD’s mission – affordable housing policy and community development. I have also worked directly with community development organizations, and state and local agencies on these issues, including through HUD’s Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) program. So HUD, its programs, and PD&R are hardly new to me. But I am entering a place that differs from the HUD and PD&R of years ago.

Over the past five years, as a consumer of PD&R’s data and work, I applauded the immense strides made by Raphael Bostic in his time as Assistant Secretary, and Erika Poethig’s adept follow-on work. As a team and in their roles, they accomplished remarkable successes for PD&R. Experiencing this from the inside has only increased my admiration for their accomplishments.

PD&R now has a robust pipeline of research projects addressing pressing policy areas, which you will be hearing more about here and elsewhere. That research agenda was shaped by a newly designed and much more inclusive process, culminating in the Research Roadmap. My predecessors also devised a new method of partnering with outside researchers on important projects of joint interest, via Research Partnerships. This permits a more flexible ‘real-time’ method for addressing important policy questions with rigorous research. (As a reminder, this is a vehicle for unsolicited proposals whose focus align with our research priorities.)

PD&R now has a collection of well-developed communication outlets for conveying our work and relevant knowledge more broadly, including The Edge, Evidence Matters, Cityscape and our quarterly briefings that are webcast. These help move research and knowledge to where it can have impact, and create more avenues for engaging with stakeholders. Perhaps a bit less obvious outside the halls of HUD, there were important data infrastructure and process changes behind the scenes, including efforts to improve and link key datasets. While perhaps less glamorous at first blush than some innovative programmatic efforts such as Strong Cities, Strong Communities, those improvements directly impact the quality of our work, throughout HUD.

I take up my role in a PD&R that has all this in place, along with a very talented and dedicated staff. My task then is take advantage of all that has already been done, and secure that those gains outlive my tenure. Two of my favorite activities from this first week highlight some key strengths from which I get to build.

The first was the final four and awards presentation for HUD’s Innovation in Affordable Housing Student Design and Planning Competition. Readers of The Edge will be familiar with the competition which challenged multi-disciplinary teams of graduate students to create innovative solutions to a real and complex housing problem: preserving a historic structure while producing affordable housing that offers a supportive environment for homeless veterans. The work of the students was truly impressive, and the full press release is available. Here I want to reflect on the competition itself, as an activity. Consistent with other recent HUD initiatives such as Rebuild by Design, this competition provided a structure for tapping innovation from outside HUD to more creatively address a problem core to our mission. It did so in a way that required one team to address all aspects of the challenge, from design to local planning and financing, in one collaborative team and not separate processes. Devising structures that encourage cross-silo work in innovative ways has been a theme in much of the best community development work in the field; it is a relatively new but potentially transformative emphasis for HUD. Those are a great place from which to build.

The second activity, which highlights PD&R’s biggest strength, was the 2014 Secretary’s Awards Ceremony. Numerous HUD employees received awards recognizing their contributions to HUD, with an emphasis on achieving excellence, innovation and employing teamwork with integrity. PD&R staff were named on six teams that were nominated, and they all deserve praise for their amazing dedication to the department. Let me give a particular shout-out to the PD&R staff on two winning teams: Meena Baavan, Rob Collinson, Paul Joice, Brent Mast, Todd McNeil, and Rob Renner. They represent how truly talented the PD&R people are. Congratulations, and thank you for your dedication to excellence.

In recognition that PD&R is its people, and our ability to do great work requires attracting and retaining such talent, I am thrilled to announce that over the next several months PD&R (and HUD) anticipate making our largest hiring effort in at least four years. Expected PD&R positions cover a broad range, including economist, data analysts, programmers, GIS experts and social scientist. Please get the word out, HUD is an inspiring and rewarding place to be. Go to USAjobs.gov for specific postings. Exciting times at PD&R!