Jean Cummings is currently a principal and co-founder of City Research, a research firm focusing on urban economic and policy issues. Before that, she spent six years as a research analyst at Harvard University's Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Joint Center for Housing Studies. She received her A.B. from Smith College and her masters in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Cummings' research interests are in housing policy and finance, and urban planning. She is particularly interested in combining aspects of academic research with practical experience in the public sector. Recent work includes an ongoing evaluation of the finance components of the National Community Development Initiative, a collaborative effort of nine foundations, two corporations, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development that has brought over $155 million to community development in 23 cities. She co-authored with Denise DiPasquale "Accessing Capital Markets for Affordable Rental Housing," a report for the national Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Finance Task Force. Other publications have included "The Spatial Implications of Housing Policy in Chile," (with DiPasquale), forthcoming in Economic Development and the City: The Chilean Experience with Location Choices and Urban Public Policy, "Developing a Secondary Market for Affordable Rental Housing: Lessons from the LIMAC/Freddie Mac and EMI/Fannie Mae Programs," (with DiPasquale), forthcoming in Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research, and "Financing Multifamily Rental Housing: The Changing Role of Lenders and Investors," (with DiPasquale), in Housing Policy Debate. She was also a contributor to State of the Nation's Housing 1991 and 1990.
Prior to working at the Kennedy School, she spent three years in the Mayor's Office in Boston working on all aspects of the city's development issues. She has worked on a variety of political campaigns and spent several months during 1987 and 1988 on the Dukakis presidential campaign.