Dr. Deyanira Nevárez Martinez is an Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on housing precarity, homelessness, poverty governance, and the criminalization of poverty in marginalized communities. She brings expertise in qualitative research and community-engaged methods, with a particular emphasis on Latinx populations, informal housing, and policy implementation.

Dr. Nevárez Martinez is the founder of the HOPE (Housing, Organizing, Policy, and Equity) Housing Justice Lab at MSU, where she leads interdisciplinary research on structural inequities in housing access. Dr. Nevarez Martinez is passionate about connecting rigorous research with actionable policy to advance housing justice. Her work has been published in leading academic journals like the Urban Affairs Review and the Journal of Planning Education and Research and featured in media outlets such as The Conversation and the nationally syndicated Tavis Smiley Radio Show.