Jake completed his doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley in 2014, with a dissertation entitled “‘We Just Built It:’ Code Enforcement, Local Politics, and the Informal Housing Market in Southeast Los Angeles County.” His research lies at the nexus of housing, real estate development, and planning. He has published research on the racialized restructuring of metropolitan space, microhousing infill, and the measurement of affordable rental housing cost efficiency in Urban Geography, Journal of Urbanism, and Housing Policy Debate.