William O'Dell is the Director of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida. Prior to his appointment as Director, he managed the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse housed in the Shimberg Center. He has worked closely with the Florida Housing Coalition for many years on a variety of issues. The Clearinghouse has, for example provided the information needed to determine housing need for the Sadowski Act Coalition and the information the Florida Housing Coalition uses in its work around mobile home park closure displacement. O’Dell’s work includes the development of tools and applications that utilize the Center’s evolving housing database. He is currently focusing on site suitability for affordable housing, revisions to the affordable housing needs assessment, assisted multi-family housing preservation and expansion of the Center’s research and data capacity. He received a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s in political science.