Samantha Batko is a senior fellow in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where her research focuses on homelessness, housing instability, housing assistance, and supportive services. She has expertise in several US Department of Housing and Urban Development homelessness programs, including homelessness prevention, emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, and permanent supportive housing. She is currently the principle investigator of an evaluation of Tipping Point Community’s Chronic Homelessness Initiative in San Francisco, an evaluation of Hamilton County’s FUSE permanent supportive housing project, development of the Emergency Rental Assistance Priority Index and targeting tool, a study of COVID-19 homelessness responses, and a study on the monetary and nonmonetary value of ending homelessness. Her other current projects include the US Department Housing and Urban Development’s Pay for Success permanent supportive housing demonstration evaluation, US Department of Labor’s Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program evaluation, and an evaluation of New Jersey’s Keeping Families Together program.

Before joining Urban, Batko spent 12 years at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, where she developed expertise in homelessness and housing policy, research, and technical assistance.