Gin, June
June Gin
June Gin was born and raised in California, where she attended Lowell High School, UC Davis, Claremont Graduate University, and the University of Michigan. Gin studies the relationship between gentrification, land use development, and the affordable housing crisis in high-cost cities, and how these factors contribute to escalating homelessness.
Gin, J. L., Balut, M. D., & Dobalian, A. 2022. COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy among U.S. Veterans Experiencing Homelessness in Transitional Housing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(15863). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315863
Gin, J. L., Kranke, D., Saia, R., & Dobalian, A. 2016. Disaster preparedness in homeless residential organizations in Los Angeles County: Identifying needs, assessing gaps. Natural Hazards Review, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)nh.1527-6996.0000208
Gin, J. L., Stein, J. A., Heslin, K. C., & Dobalian, A. 2014. Responding to risk: Awareness and action after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Safety Science, 65, 86–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2014.01.001
Gin, J., & Taylor, D. E. 2010. Movements, neighborhood change, and the media – newspaper coverage of anti-gentrification activity in the San Francisco Bay Area: 1995–2005. Environment and Social Justice: An International Perspective, 75–114. https://doi.org/10.1108/s0196-1152(2010)0000018005
June Gin was born and raised in California. She attended Lowell High School, where she first became interested in addressing complex human-environment interactions after learning of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the social and economic factors related to competing human livelihoods around the land in the Amazon. From then, her interest in issues where humans must navigate around their physical environment for their well-being and survival grew, and she became interested in land use development and housing issues.
Dr. Gin attended the University of California - Davis for her undergraduate, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in environmental policy, analysis, and planning. Later, she completed a Master of Arts in Public Policy at Claremont Graduate University before attending the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, earning a Ph.D. in Environmental Sociology and Urban Planning.
After finishing her master’s degree, Dr. Gin interned at EcoSecurities before moving to Michigan to pursue a Ph.D. While completing her graduate work at the University of Michigan, Dr. Gin was a Research Associate for the Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (MELDI). After graduating with her Ph.D. in 2007, Dr. Gin returned to California and worked as the Director of Research and Community Outreach for the Fritz Institute in San Francisco. In this role, she developed training procedures and standards for nonprofit service providers responding to disasters. Her work equipped organizations with the necessary tools to ensure marginalized groups receive support following disasters allowing communities to recover quickly.
Dr. Gin is currently a Research Health Scientist at the Veterans Emergency Management Evaluation Center (VEMEC), a branch of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. She has published 24 peer-reviewed journal articles, including 12 as first author, on topics ranging from gentrification, ex-urban social justice movements, wildfire impacts on Veterans experiencing homelessness, disaster preparedness for organizations serving people experiencing homelessness, recently completing a comprehensive study on the role of military culture in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among Veterans experiencing homelessness. Dr. Gin led a federal interagency team to develop Disaster Preparedness to Promote Community Resilience, an eviednce-based toolkit to help communities, shelter and housing providers, and health providers address the disaster needs of people experiencing homelessness. She is also a member of the Board of Directors, San Francisco Community Agencies Responding to Disaster (SF CARD).
Dr. Gin was awarded the Rackham Graduate School (Doctoral) Merit Fellowship and the University of Michigan Ayer Brinser Award for Outstanding Doctoral Students, University of Michigan.
She is active in the William (Bill) Averette Anderson Fund, which provides fellowships and mentoring for students of color pursuing PhDs in disaster research. This organization focuses on inclusive hazard and disaster planning for communities of color. Information is available here: https://billandersonfund.org/
Gin lives in California with her husband.
Survey conducted by Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative staff. 2022-2023. Yale University- School of the Environment. New Haven, Connecticut.