Housing is fundamental to our quality of life, not just in Los Angeles, but around the world. UCLA possesses the academic expertise and core public education and service mission to play a leadership role in this area. The Howard and Irene Levine Program in Housing and Social Responsibility addresses timely and critical issues related to urban and rural housing markets; and affordable housing policy, provision and sustainability; particularly the housing needs and outcomes of low-income and workforce households.
The Levine Program, comprised of a multifaceted set of enterprises, challenges and inspires UCLA students to think about broader societal issues in the context of their professional and personal pursuits, empowers UCLA faculty and doctoral students to undertake cutting edge research in the field, and enables the Ziman Center to serve the community by promoting public dialogue and education, all for the betterment of society.
Program Details
The Howard and Irene Levine Program in Housing and Social Responsibility is made possible by a generous gift from Howard and Irene Levine. Mr. Levine is a member of the Founding Board of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and is a distinguished alumnus of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. In 2011 UCLA Anderson celebrated its 75th anniversary and identified Howard Levine among its 100 Inspirational Alumni.
Graduate Course in Affordable Housing Development
The Levine Program's Affordable Housing Development & Finance MBA course elective (MGMT298D) is designed to provide students with a foundational understanding of affordable and workforce housing development. The course will begin by familiarizing students with the site selection and acquisition process, and will then explore the complexities associated with land use, entitlements, and the political landscape. Next, the course will evaluate the various financing tools available to affordable housing developers, including low-income housing tax credits, tax-exempt bond financing, and various federal, state and local funding sources. Classroom activity consists of lectures, case studies, guest speakers, and a final project.
UCLA Distinguished Speaker Series in Affordable Housing
The UCLA Distinguished Speaker Series in Affordable Housing brings leading industry experts, scholars and policy makers to UCLA to engage students on the critical issues and current trends in affordable housing development and preservation in Southern California. Lecture topics include: affordable housing finance and development in California in the wake of the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, community economic development, transit-oriented development, homelessness and permanent supportive housing, green building and approaches to creating more sustainable neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
MBA Real Estate Field Study
One of the key components of the Ziman Center’s Levine Program is an MBA Real Estate Field Study which is implemented through the Social Impact Consulting Corp Program (SICC) at UCLA Anderson’s Center for Impact. The Levine Program is pleased to partner with SICC in 2023 to select one nonprofit or public sector housing provider or agency or related social enterprise to work with one of SICC’s teams of MBA candidates in their April 5 - June 7, 2023 consulting cycle. The MBA students will work under the guidance of a faculty advisor in a directed 10-week pro bono engagement with the client to address a strategic priority or problem limiting their success. The students will deliver solutions to critical challenges through top-notch analysis.
Previous Levine Program MBA Field Study partnering organizations include:
Step Up (2013), Mercy Housing (2014), Many Mansions (2015), City of Pasadena Department of Housing and Career Services (2016), UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies (ITS) (2017), Japanese Institute of Sawtelle (2018), A Community of Friends (2019), Daylight Community Development BCO (2019), Sacramento Area Council of Governments (2020), and LDG Development (2021).
Annual Housing Symposium
Under the auspices of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, the Levine Program supports an annual symposium focused on issues of affordable housing, housing markets, housing finance and policy, health and housing and sustainability.
Fellowships in Housing and Sustainability
The Levine Distinguished Fellows Program augments the training of the most gifted and ambitious students pursuing real estate education at UCLA in the areas of low-income and/or workforce housing affordability, related policy, housing and health, sustainability and redevelopment. The Center selects an exclusive group of students each year to serve one-year terms as Levine Distinguished Fellows. Fellows are chosen for their passion for real estate and social responsibility, academic accomplishments, leadership, and service to the real estate program at UCLA.
The program is open to any UCLA Anderson MBA/EMBA/FEMBA student, UCLA Law student, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Urban Planning or Public Policy student, or UCLA Fielding School of Public Health student who is entering the last year of his/her respective UCLA Anderson/Law/SPA/Fielding graduate studies program. Program highlights include honorific designation as a Levine Distinguished Fellow; assigned mentorship with a relevant high-level Ziman Center industry affiliate; social entrepreneurial real estate leadership training, select internship opportunities, and targeted career planning and placement; and complimentary admission to all UCLA Ziman Center events, including the invitation-only Ziman Center summits, policy briefings, and industry events.
Housing and Sustainability Research
The Levine Program annually awards research stipends to UCLA faculty, post-doctoral scholars, and visiting scholars to undertake cutting-edge research in the field of housing affordability and sustainability, real estate finance, urban economics and associated topics such as capital markets, housing and mortgage and related securitization markets, macroeconomics and the regional economy, land use, environmental sustainability, urban transportation, municipal finance, housing and health-related outcomes, and the regulatory environment. Academic research papers funded by the Levine Program are disseminated via the UCLA Ziman Center Working Paper Series, monthly UCLA Economic Letter and UCLA Affordable Housing Policy Brief.
