Housing and economic opportunity are inextricably linked. The coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the public policy response have shown how deeply the connection between housing, opportunity, and economic security are tied. While these dynamics have been brought to the forefront by the pandemic, there has been a relatively less deep study of the links between housing policy and economic development policy. This special issue, titled “The Impact of Housing Affordability on Economic Development and Regional Labor Markets,” aims to contribute to our understanding of these dynamics. The conference on the Impact of Housing Affordability on Economic Development and Regional Labor Markets took place February 26–28, 2020 in Miami, Florida—a partnership between the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Economic Development Quarterly, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Even at the time, many participants felt a growing uncertainty about the fledging pandemic and what it could mean personally and for society. In time, between sessions and discussions, participants may have mentioned some worry about disruption of upcoming travel or concern about what might happen given the potential for some public health challenges. Ultimately, participants greatly underestimated the changes and challenges that the world and country would experience because of the pandemic. For many of the participants, the trip to Miami was the last flight they were on before the onset and massive closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of life has yet to return to normal as of the summer of 2021. The articles and research presented in this special issue serve somewhat as a time capsule. The work was largely developed by February 2020. It certainly has advanced through the editing and review process—we thank the authors, editors, and reviewers for the hard work that they did to finalize this important research. This issue highlights the state of affairs as we entered a world-changing event. While this introduction will not venture to completely capture how the world has changed, I hope to highlight some of the developments over the course of the pandemic that have further linked housing affordability and economic development and aim to suggest how the research presented helps inform these dynamics and, in some cases, suggest future areas of study to further advance our understanding of the relationship between economic development and housing affordability. For a longer look at the conference that was the basis for this special issue, Sarah Miller and Katherine Townsend Kiernan wrote the proceedings of the February conference, which begin this issue. The pandemic caused a shock to the labor market that the world had not before experienced. Unemployment in February 2020 was 3.5% and it skyrocketed to 14.8% by April 2020 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021). In absolute terms, employers cut over 22 million jobs. Stay-at-home orders across the country and mass business and school closures led to losses of employment before unseen. The immediate response to layoffs included significant housing protections—including a Congressional eviction moratorium followed by a moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control (Liptak, 2021). The moratoriums augmented more traditional economic stimulus and aid to communities. Several rounds of direct stimulus payments occurred throughout 2020 and 2021. Unemployment insurance was extended significantly, including increased payments to better cover wage losses for workers unable to return to work (Miller & Townsend, 2020). The benefits were also extended to employees not traditionally covered by unemployment insurance—including contract or “gig” workers, workers with short tenures on the job, and workers with too few hours to otherwise qualify for unemployment compensation. As part of its response to the pandemic, Congress also authorized billions of dollars in rental and housing assistance. Early reviews suggest that these programs significantly reduced the potential economic harm to households (Casselman, 2021). Yet despite over $5 trillion in stimulus

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特刊简介

住房和经济机会密不可分。2019 年冠状病毒 (COVID-19) 大流行和公共政策反应表明，住房、机会和经济安全之间的联系有多紧密。尽管这些动态已被大流行带到了最前沿，但对住房政策与经济发展政策之间的联系的研究相对较少。本期特刊题为“住房负担能力对经济发展和区域劳动力市场的影响”，旨在帮助我们了解这些动态。住房负担能力对经济发展和区域劳动力市场的影响会议于 2020 年 2 月 26 日至 28 日在佛罗里达州迈阿密举行——WE Upjohn 就业研究所、经济发展季刊、和亚特兰大联邦储备银行。即使在当时，许多参与者也对这种刚刚出现的流行病以及它对个人和社会可能意味着什么感到越来越不确定。随着时间的推移，在会议和讨论之间，参与者可能会提到一些担心即将到来的旅行受到干扰或担心可能会发生一些公共卫生挑战的情况。最终，与会者大大低估了世界和国家将因大流行而经历的变化和挑战。对于许多参与者来说，迈阿密之行是他们在 COVID-19 大流行病爆发和大规模关闭之前的最后一次飞行。截至 2021 年夏天，大部分生活尚未恢复正常。本期特刊中介绍的文章和研究在某种程度上起到了时间胶囊的作用。这项工作在 2020 年 2 月之前已基本完成。它肯定在编辑和审查过程中取得了进展——我们感谢作者、编辑和审稿人为完成这项重要研究所做的辛勤工作。当我们进入一个改变世界的事件时，这个问题突出了事态。虽然本介绍不会冒险完全捕捉世界的变化，但我希望强调大流行期间的一些发展，这些发展进一步将住房负担能力和经济发展联系起来，并旨在建议所提出的研究如何帮助了解这些动态并且，在某些情况下，建议未来的研究领域，以进一步加深我们对经济发展和住房负担能力之间关系的理解。为了更深入地了解作为本期特刊基础的会议，Sarah Miller 和 Katherine Townsend Kiernan 撰写了 2 月会议的会议记录，这也是本期的开始。大流行对劳动力市场造成了前所未有的冲击。2020 年 2 月的失业率为 3.5%，到 2020 年 4 月飙升至 14.8%（美国劳工统计局，2021 年）。从绝对值来看，雇主裁减了超过 2200 万个工作岗位。全国各地的居家令以及大规模的企业和学校关闭导致了就业机会的流失。对裁员的直接反应包括重大的住房保护——包括国会暂停驱逐，然后是疾病控制中心颁布的暂停（Liptak，2021）。暂停增加了更传统的经济刺激和对社区的援助。2020 年和 2021 年期间发生了几轮直接刺激支付。失业保险显着延长，包括增加支付以更好地弥补无法重返工作岗位的工人的工资损失（Miller & Townsend，2020）。这些福利还扩展到传统上不受失业保险覆盖的员工——包括合同工或“零工”工人、工作期限短的工人以及工作时间太短而没有资格获得失业补偿的工人。作为应对这一流行病的一部分，国会还授权提供数十亿美元的租金和住房援助。早期审查表明，这些计划显着减少了对家庭的潜在经济损害（Casselman，2021 年）。