Squires

Gregory D. Squires

Professor of Sociology and Public Policy & Public Administration, The George Washington University
Areas of Expertise:
  • Inequality & the Middle Class
  • Cities & Regions
  • Housing
  • Race & Ethnicity

Connect with Gregory

(202) 994-6894

About Gregory

Squire’s research focuses on various dimensions of uneven metropolitan development. Addressing primarily issues of racial and economic inequality, he engages in research and policy initiatives pertaining to housing, economic development, financial services (e.g. mortgage lending and property insurance) and the uneven development of metropolitan areas. He has worked for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and HUD’s Office for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and has served on the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council. Squires is a member of the Fair Housing Task Force of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Social Science Advisory Board of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, and the Advisory Board of the John Marshall Law School’s Fair Housing Legal Support Center.

Briefs | Podcast | Publications | In the News

Briefs

How Environmental Toxins Reduce Life Expectancy in Many American Neighborhoods

  • Gregory D. Squires
SSN Basic Facts,

Podcast

Publications

"Think Globally, Act Locally: Neighborhood Pollution and the Future of the Earth" (with William Riggs and Stella Capek). Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics: JERHRE 7, no. 2 (2012): 3-19.

Proposes shift from end-of-pipe to front-of-pipe public health solutions. Specifically, examines need for toxin-free communities, especially in urban and inner-city communities.

Meltdown: The Financial Crisis, Consumer Protection, and the Road Forward (with Larry Kirsch) (Praeger, 2017).

Reveals how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was able to curb important unsafe and unfair practices that led to the recent financial crisis. In interviews with key government, industry, and advocacy groups along with deep archival research, the authors show where the CFPB was able to overcome many abusive practices, where it was less able to do so, and why.

Privileged Places: Race, Residence and the Structure of Opportunity (with Charis Kubrin) (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006).
Examines the impact of place on the opportunity structure facing various demographic groups focusing on housing and the criminal justice system.
"Demobilization of the Individualistic Bias: Housing Market Discrimination as a Contributor to Labor Market and Economic Inequality" The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 609, no. 1 (2007): 200-214.
Examines how the dynamics of the housing market, and individualistic ideological biases in the study of inequality generally, impact labor market outcomes.
"Beyond the Mobility versus Place Debate" Journal of Urban Affairs 34, no. 1 (2012): 29-33.
Identifies the potential benefits of mobility and place policies, and the shortcomings of criticisms of mobility efforts.
Warfare Welfare: The Not-So-Hidden Costs of America’s Permanent War Economy (edited with Marcus Raskin) (Potomac Books, 2012).
A collection of classic essays, court decisions, and executive orders that examines the domestic and international costs of the permanent war economy in the U.S.
From Foreclosure to Fair Lending: Advocacy, Organizing, Occupy, and the Pursuit of Equitable Credit (edited with Chester Hartman) (New Village Press, 2013).
Examines the implications of the Occupy movement for fair housing and fair lending advocacy; includes contributions by lawyers, activist scholars, and community organizers.
"Inequality, Advocacy, and the Foreclosure Crisis" Journal of Applied Social Science 8, no. 2 (2014): 85-95.
Argues that there are several ways that economic inequality has shaped the foreclosure and related financial crises of recent years; offers several recommendations for reforming banking practices and ameliorating the trajectories of inequality that contributed to these problems. Winner of the Lester F. Ward Distinguished Contribution to Applied and Clinical Sociology Award from the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology.

In the News

Gregory D. Squires quoted in Heather Graf, "Petition Calls on Cities to Refuse Tax Breaks for Amazon HQ2" WJLA, February 1, 2018.
"Watchdog or Lapdog: The Future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is in Doubt," Gregory D. Squires, The Hill, December 5, 2017.
"Harvey is Not a Natural Disaster ," Gregory D. Squires, The American Prospect , September 6, 2017.
"Phil Ochs, Voice of a Generation," Gregory D. Squires, Opinion, The Washington Post, February 2017.
"The ‘Startling’ Link between Low Interest Rates and Low Crime," Gregory D. Squires (with James Austin), Crime Report, December 2016.
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Past, Present, And Future," Gregory D. Squires, Politics, Huffington Post, February 2017.
"All the Fury Over CFPB Ignores its Modest Mission," Gregory D. Squires, BankThink, American Banker, November 2016.
"All the Fury Over CFPB Ignores Its Modest Mission," Gregory D. Squires, Financial Reform, Rooflines: The Shelterforce Blog, December 15, 2016.
"Does Consumer Protection Have a Future?," Gregory D. Squires, The Hill, November 2016.
"A New Wave of Fair-Lending Activism," Gregory D. Squires (with Chester Hartman), American Banker, August 15, 2013.
"Too Much Fuss about a Losing Sports Team," Gregory D. Squires, Washington Post, January 2, 2014.
"Ferguson: Nobody Should be Surprised," Gregory D. Squires, St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 8, 2014.