IIra Goldstein, Ph.D., is the founder of IJG Urban Advisors, LLC. Most recently, he served as Senior Advisor in the Policy Solutions group at Reinvestment Fund, where he also served as President of the group from 1999 to 2023.

For more than four decades, Ira has applied rigorous research and data analysis to address some of the nation's most pressing housing and community development challenges. His expertise includes mortgage lending disparities—including reverse mortgages, mortgage foreclosures, and predatory lending practices—racial bias in home appraisals and property tax assessments, neighborhood investment, and equitable community development. His research has informed civil rights enforcement, consumer protection litigation, public policy, and investment decisions nationwide.

Ira developed Reinvestment Fund's proprietary Market Value Analysis (MVA), a nationally recognized methodology used to guide public and private investment in communities across the United States. He also created the Displacement Risk Ratio (DRR), an analytical tool that identifies neighborhoods where residents are at heightened risk of price-driven displacement.

A trusted advisor to government, philanthropy, and private-sector leaders, Ira has played a central role in advancing equitable housing policy in Philadelphia. He chaired Philadelphia City Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker's Home Appraisal Bias Task Force and was a key contributor to former Philadelphia Mayor Street’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. He also served as a Policy Advisor to Mayor Parker's Transition Team and currently serves as an Expert Advisor to the her Business Roundtables.

Ira earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Sociology from Temple University. For nearly 40 years, he has taught in the University of Pennsylvania's Urban Studies Program, where he lectures on research methods, statistics, and housing policy. He is a Fellow of Penn's Institute for Urban Research, serves on the Board of Directors of Children First PA, is a member of the National Housing Crisis Task Force, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations.

Before joining Reinvestment Fund, Ira served as Mid-Atlantic Director of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he led investigations into housing discrimination and civil rights enforcement throughout the region.