About
Biography
Professor Ryan Allen is a housing and community development scholar with a focus on the experience of immigrant communities in the U.S. He is the author of a variety of articles that focus on housing affordability, public housing, and immigrant integration in journals such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, the Journal of Urban Affairs, Urban Studies, and International Migration Review. Most recently, he co-authored "Immigrant Legal Status and Commute Mode Choice for Hispanics in the United States" in the Journal of the American Planning Association. In addition, Professor Allen has served as an expert witness in multiple federal lawsuits challenging the "public charge" rule in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Allen directs the Urban and Regional Planning program at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and has an appointment with the Center for Community Vitality in Minnesota Extension. He also serves as associate dean for research at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where he acts as the point of contact for the Humphrey School’s research faculty and center directors, and updates faculty on policies regarding research ethics, procedures, grant funding, and other related information.
Education
PhD in Urban Studies (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007)
Master of City Planning (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002)
BA (The College of William and Mary, 1997)
Recent Publications
Hess, C., Colburn, G., Crowder, K. & Allen, R. (2022). Racial Disparity in Exposure to Housing Cost Burden in the U.S.: 1980-2017, Housing Studies,
Allen, R. & Goetz, E. G. (in press). A Home for Xenophobia: U.S. Public Housing Policy Under Trump, International Journal of Housing Policy, 21(1), 127-137
Allen, R. P. & Wang, J. (2020). Immigrant Legal Status and Commute Mode Choice for Hispanics in the United States, Journal of the American Planning Association,
Allen, R. P. & Van Riper, D. (2020). The New Deal, the deserving poor and the first public housing residents in New York City, Social Science History, 44(1), 91-115
Allen, R. & Goetz, E. G. (10 July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2019). Public Housing Is Suffering from a Lack of Funding, Not an Overflow of Immigrants. L.A. Times:
Colburn, G. & Allen, R. (2018). Rent burden and the Great Recession in the USA, Urban Studies, 55(1), 226--243
Courses
- PA 5004 - Introduction to Planning
- PA 5281 - Immigrants, Urban Planning and Policymaking in the U.S.
News and Media
Humphrey School News
Re-imagining City Planning After the Protests
Toward a Better Understanding of Immigration
Read more Humphrey School news
Research Updates
Read about Allen's latest research
In the Media
Podcast: US Housing Policy Under Trump
International Journal of Housing Policy, 10-02-2020
New Evidence Demonstrates That The Public Charge Rule Will Harm Immigrant Families and Others
Health Affairs, October 9, 2019