The housing economy is undergoing complex transitions that will have lasting consequences for families, communities, the economy, and the country’s racial equity gap. Now more than ever, we need data-driven insight to navigate critical choices. HFPC and the Urban Institute are uniquely positioned to fill that need and connect finance and policy with people—for whom housing matters so much for security, opportunity, dignity, and power.
Janneke Ratcliffe is vice president for housing finance policy and leads the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Over a career that spans industry, the nonprofit sector, academic research, and the federal government, her work focuses on increasing access to financial systems that foster economic security and prosperity.
Ratcliffe came to Urban from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she served as assistant director, leading its Office of Financial Education. Previously, she was the executive director of the University of North Carolina Center for Community Capital, leading “transformative research on how mortgage markets and financial services can better promote financial security and economic opportunity.” Ratcliffe has also served at GE Capital Mortgage, the Center for American Progress, and Self-Help, where she was instrumental in high-impact programs in affordable and Community Reinvestment Act mortgages and community development finance. Ratcliffe serves on the National Advisory Council of the National Housing Council (for a three-year term beginning 2024) and on the Consumer Affairs Advisory Council of the Mortgage Bankers Association. She is a member of Fannie Mae’s Affordable Housing Advisory Council for 2024–25 and of the National Community Stabilization Trust Board of Managers. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studied economics and French.
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