Keys to Opportunity in the Housing Market

Brian An

Assistant Professor and Director of Master of Science in Public Policy, School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech

Brian Y. An, PhD, is an assistant professor and the Director of Master of Science in Public Policy program in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech. His research examines how institutional and policy design affects management processes and policy outcomes at all levels, from local and regional organizations to national governments across the globe. His policy research area spans public finance, housing, energy, and environment, and the role of AI and technology. Dr. An has consulted or worked for international organizations and US agencies, including the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, International Finance Corporation (the World Bank Group), the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Enterprise Community Partners, Brookings Institution, Fulton County Government, and Atlanta Mayor’s Office among others. He has a PhD in Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern California and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Sarah Bolling Mancini

Co-Director of Advocacy, National Consumer Law Center

Sarah Bolling Mancini is Co-Director of Advocacy with the National Consumer Law Center, based in Atlanta. Sarah’s work focuses on foreclosures, mortgage lending, and credit reporting issues, with an emphasis on homeownership racial justice, including access to sustainable mortgages and risks posed by land contracts, lease-options, home equity theft, heirs property, and property tax foreclosure. Sarah previously worked at Atlanta Legal Aid’s Home Defense Program, and represented homeowners in litigation in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts. She clerked for the Honorable Amy Totenberg, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She has a B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Laurie Goodman

Institute Fellow, Urban Institute

Laurie Goodman is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute. She founded the Housing Finance Policy Center at Urban in 2013, and was its Director or Co-Director from 2013-2021. This Center provides policymakers with data-driven analyses of housing finance policy issues that they can depend on for relevance, accuracy, and independence. Prior to joining Urban Institute in 2013, Laurie spent 30 years as a mortgage-backed securities analyst and research department manager at a number of Wall Street firms, including Amherst Securities Group, LP and UBS.

Laurie serves on the Board of Directors of MFA Financial and Arch Capital Group Ltd, and is a consultant to The Amherst Group. She has published more than 250 articles in professional and academic journals and co-authored/co-edited five books. She has a BA in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, and an AM and PhD in Economics from Stanford University.

John Green

Managing Principal, Blackstar Stability

John Green is the Managing Principal of Blackstar Stability. He has over 20 years of real estate and finance experience, having managed approximately $5 billion in properties nationwide. He has led over 3 million sf of commercial space, 7,500 apartment units, 500,000 sf of retail, 1,000 hotel keys, and 10 million sf of development opportunities; as well as a successful Emerging Manager investment platform.

Prior to founding Blackstar, he served as Managing Director for MacFarlane Partners. Previously, John worked as a real estate developer with The Community Builders, and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

He serves on the boards of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University and the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing. John earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and MPA from Harvard Kennedy School. He also holds a BS degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Kyle Mangum

Senior Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Specializing in regional economics, migration, and housing markets, Kyle Mangum focuses his research primarily on economic issues related to location. He is interested in understanding how markets work for specific physical locations, how people choose where to locate economic activities, and how locations themselves are priced. He has written several articles on the strategies, behaviors, and impacts of housing market investors.

Before joining the Fed, Kyle was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Georgia State University. Kyle has doctorate and master’s degrees in economics from Duke University. He graduated summa cum laude from Taylor University with a bachelor’s in economics and political science.

Hal Martin

Policy Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

Hal Martin is a policy economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. He conducts research on equity and access in housing markets. He works in the Cleveland Fed’s Program on Economic Inclusion, where he works to understand what it takes for more people to participate more fully in the economy.

Dr. Martin joined the Cleveland Fed in 2015. He holds a BA in economics from Principia College. He received an MA and PhD in economics at Georgia State University.

Eric Seymour

Assistant Professor, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University

Eric Seymour is an Assistant Professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. His work examines transformations in U.S. housing markets following the foreclosure crisis, with a focus on investors in single-family housing and their business practices in different types of housing markets. He has published on the reemergence of land contracts in distressed housing markets including Detroit, as well as large institutional investors moving into the single-family rental business in destination areas including Las Vegas. This work examines the impact of these companies’ practices, including eviction and disinvestment. This work has appeared in the journals Housing Policy Debate, Housing Studies, and Urban Affairs Review. Eric is also currently co-leading an examination of rental housing challenges across New Jersey, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.