Chapin Hall

Madeline Youngren is a Policy Analyst at Chapin Hall. Her work focuses on using evidence-based research to drive policy solutions that positively impact youth and families experiencing housing instability and homelessness. Youngren is passionate about action-oriented and systems approach research aimed at producing substantive change in health, child welfare, and other systems to reduce barriers and provide better access to safe, stable, and quality affordable housing and affirming services for communities.

As a Policy Analyst at Chapin Hall, Youngren works with several jurisdictions to conduct evaluations and evaluability assessments to improve access, delivery of, and outcomes associated with youth and family services, programs, and support systems. Youngren’s projects range from a mixed methods evaluability assessment of the Kinship Reentry Program in New York City—a “cash-plus” program that provides cash transfers to families who have members returning from incarceration with the intent to avert shelter placement and encourage stability and well-being—to the evaluation of 24-hour drop in centers for youth in New York City. Youngren also examines the annual data from the National Runaway Safeline and works on a team exploring how administrative data can be used to better understand youth homelessness, among other projects in the youth homelessness portfolio.

Prior to joining Chapin Hall, Youngren helped manage the Legal Services Corporation’s (LSC’s) congressionally funded Eviction Study, designed to understand the current landscape of federal, state and local eviction laws. While working on the Eviction Study, Youngren helped develop LSC’s Eviction Tracker, a tool that provides access to multiyear trend data on eviction filings for 1,250 counties and municipalities in 30 states and territories across the United States.

Prior to working at LSC, Youngren gained her Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a concentration in Housing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. While a Master’s student, Youngren was a Graduate Research Assistant working on historic preservation and legacy business projects and held internships in housing policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and Capital Impact Partners, a Community Development Financial Institution.