You have been invited by politicians working on issues related to eviction, to provide a policy brief to their subcommittee, which is examining potential policy
solutions to address eviction. Your policy brief can be about the United States, generally, but it can also focus on a specific area within the United States.
A policy brief is a short 1,200-1,400 word document that uses accessible language to describe a specific social problem, summarizes important data, and
then provides a policy recommendation. Policy briefs are often used in the policymaking process—as a way for politicians and others to get succinct
information about a social problem and potential solution. However, policy briefs can also be used by advocacy organizations to help bring attention to a
social problem. Using data from The Eviction Lab (www.evictionlab.org Links to an external site.), please prepare a policy brief with the following elements
(total possible points by section in parentheses)
Introduction (5). Uses accessible language to describe the issue, briefly summarize the data that you will be using, and provides a quick overview of the
proposal. This section should familiarize the reader with the social problem, give a sense of the extent of the problem, and provide a roadmap for where the
policy brief is going. This section does NOT need to contain bulleted findings (often in policy briefs).
Background (15). Here you are describing the issue that you are addressing. In the example brief that I have provided, the Urban Institute describes evictions
and the moratorium on evictions within the COVID-19 pandemic. The background should incorporate at least 2 academic sources—which can include policy
briefs from institutes (such as the Urban Institute). You are welcome to use whatever citations style you prefer. Policy briefs often use Chicago Style.
Whatever style you use, please make sure to attach a reference page.
Data (15). The data that you use for this paper will be from the Eviction Lab (www.evictionlab.org Links to an external site.) The Eviction Lab, has maps,
interactive data, and a list of policies that have been implemented. If you wanted to look at a specific policy’s impact on eviction, you might pick a time before
the policy was implemented and after to compare eviction rates. You are welcome to compare data from two or more different areas in the United States.
Whatever topic you choose, you should provide a minimum of three ways to examine the data. For example, say I am comparing eviction rates between
Boise, Idaho (Ada County) and New Orleans (Orleans Parish). I am primarily interested in percentage of income that individuals in these two locations spend
on rent. I might first report this. However, I might decide to look at the percentage of people experiencing poverty, since a higher percentage of people
experiencing poverty would influence the amount of available income for rent. Finally, I will want to examine at least one other metric.
Solutions (10). In this section, you provide one or two solutions for how to address the specific aspect of the social problem that is described. If you use an
idea that has already been extended publicly, then make sure that you cite the solution that you are providing.
