Dr. Jenny Schuetz, Renowned Housing Policy Expert, Joins Arnold Ventures as Vice President of Infrastructure, Housing

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 14, 2024) — Strengthening its commitment to addressing the nation’s housing affordability crisis, Dr. Jenny Schuetz joined Arnold Ventures (AV) as vice president of infrastructure for housing today. A nationally renowned economist, author, and policy expert on housing and land use, Dr. Schuetz will oversee AV’s work to address the nation’s challenge of housing supply shortages and rapidly increasing rents and home prices. 

AV’s housing portfolio focuses on researching and enacting federal, state, and local policies that can successfully expand housing supply and improve affordability by making it easier to build more housing and provide more types of housing in places where people want to live. In her new role, Schuetz will drive the scaling of research to address barriers to housing affordability, and to accelerate housing reforms across the United States. 

“A lack of housing supply and the affordability challenges that lack of supply has created in the United States is finally being recognized for what it truly is, a national crisis,” said Charlie Anderson, executive vice president for infrastructure at Arnold Ventures. ​“Dr. Schuetz has long been one of the preeminent experts in the country on housing policy, helping to deepen American policymakers’ understanding of the causes of the affordability crisis and the potential solutions. We are thrilled that she is joining the Arnold Ventures team to drive research and policy change that will address the national housing shortage and increase affordability for all Americans.” 

Schuetz has nearly three decades of professional experience studying housing markets and policies as a researcher, educator, and, most recently, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has also served as a principal economist on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and as an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University. Schuetz earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy at Harvard University and her master’s in City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

“Housing affordability has emerged as one of our nation’s most pressing crises,” said Schuetz. ​“AV’s mission of using research, data, and creative thinking can help policymakers find pragmatic solutions to this seemingly intractable problem.” 

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Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy that supports research to understand the root causes of America’s most persistent and pressing problems, as well as evidence-based solutions to address them. By focusing on systemic change, AV is working to improve the lives of American families, strengthen their communities, and promote their economic opportunity. Since Laura and John Arnold launched their foundation in 2008, the philanthropy has expanded, and Arnold Ventures’ focus areas include education, criminal justice, health, infrastructure, and public finance, advocating for bipartisan policy reforms that will lead to lasting, scalable change. As signatories of the Giving Pledge, the Arnolds have committed to giving away most of their wealth during their lives.