Allard has received research grants supporting his work on social welfare policy from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), The Brookings Institution, the University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR), and the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI). He is also the author of Out of Reach: Place, Poverty, and the New American Welfare State. Allard has authored several articles on contemporary social welfare policy and social service delivery in several academic journals.