Professor Nicholas Pleace

Profile

Biography

Professor of Social Policy
Associate Dean of School for Research and Impact (CDRC)
Director, Centre for Housing Policy
School for Business and Society

• BA Hons, Politics (Portsmouth Polytechnic)
• MA (Econ) Public Policy and Administration (University of Manchester)

Nicholas joined the University of York in 1991. His interests centre on housing exclusion, homelessness and inequalities linked to the built environment. This includes the intersections of climate and social justice within a broadly defined interest in social geography. He focuses on interdisciplinary and comparative research, alongside a longstanding interest in impact-focused work with policy makers and practitioners.

He has been a member of the European Observatory on Homelessness, operating under the auspices of FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless since 2010. He is on the Editorial Boards of the European Journal of Homelessness and the International Journal of Housing Policy.

Nicholas has been Director of the Centre for Housing Policy research group since 2017 and is currently Associate Dean of School for Research and Impact for the School for Business and Society. He was the University of York Research Theme Champion for Justice and Equality between 2019-2022 and Interdisciplinary Research Champion for the School of Business and Society in 2023. 

Research

Overview

Research interests

• Evaluation
• Cost effectiveness
• Social and community integration
• Economic integration
• Homelessness and housing exclusion
• International comparisons
• Welfare taxonomies
• Urban studies

Nicholas has an interest in experimental and quasi-experimental service evaluation and international comparative research. He is a specialist in mixed methods and interdisciplinary research.

Projects

• Fidelity Assessment of Housing First England (2016)
• Evaluating the Threshold Housing First service (2015 - 2017)
• Promoting protection of the right to housing - Homelessness prevention in the context of evictions - EU (2013-2015)
• European Core Learning Outcomes for the Integration of Support and Housing - EU (2013 - 2015)
• Assessment of need and evaluation of housing support for homeless veterans (2013 - 2016)
• Evaluation of the Crisis Skylight programme (2013-2015)
• European Observatory on Homelessness (2010-)
• Evaluation of the Finnish homelessness strategy (2014)
• Measuring the impact of Supporting People in Wales (2013)
• Improving Health and Social Integration through Housing First (2013)
• Camden Housing First: A Housing First Experiment in London (2013)
• Evaluating homelessness services and strategies: A Review (2013)
• Review of the evidence base for Housing First (2012)

Teaching

Postgraduate

He is interested in PhD supervision centred on housing inequalities and/or wider inequalities in the built environment and has a general interest in work intended to enhance quality of life by improving access to better homes in better environments.