Just Released: Evidence Matters Summer/Fall 2020 Issue

The Summer/Fall 2020 issue of Evidence Matters: Transforming Knowledge Into Housing and Community Development Policy, which focuses on supporting homeowners and renters during times of disruption, is now available. This issue examines the strains on, and supports for, the various actors in the housing market, including renters, homeowners, landlords, mortgage lenders, and investors, and is set in the context of the initial months following the global outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, this issue represents a point-in-time snapshot of the state of affairs at the time of publication, and we anticipate that the needs stemming from this crisis, as well as the governmental responses to it, will shift dramatically in the coming weeks and months.

Key Findings:

• Policymakers and practitioners have drawn on lessons from past episodes of economic disruption, including the Great Recession and natural disasters, to respond to current housing-related challenges.
• FHA’s capacity to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout remains strong and it has taken several steps to ensure mortgage credit availability during the current situation.
• The economy and housing market entered the pandemic in strong positions, and federal interventions to supplement income for those unemployed and underemployed by the pandemic, prevent evictions and foreclosures, fund various forms of housing assistance, and provide liquidity to financial markets have largely kept people housed and kept the housing finance system functioning well.

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