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Journal Article
Shifting Hours: Unstable Work Scheduling Practices
Stable work schedules are a key component of job quality and of supporting a thriving labor force. Stable scheduling practices are associated with improved job attachment, lower turnover, and higher revenues.i On the other hand, employer-initiated unstable scheduling practices have been shown to destabilize workers’ finances, sleep, caregiving, education, other employment, and community and leisure activities, and are associated with negative health outcomes, reduced worker satisfaction, and increased turnover.ii Though unstable scheduling practices are widespread, with about 41% of all ...
Journal Article
Understanding CDFI Financial Data: A Primer for New Investors
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are gaining broader recognition as effective conduits of capital to underserved communities. As a result of the diversity of CDFI business models and their unique approach to blending different capital sources, these mission-driven capital providers have varied and often complex financial structures, and their financial statements can be difficult to understand for those not familiar with the sector. As interest in the sector from prospective investors has grown, so too has the need for broader understanding of how to assess CDFI financial ...
Journal Article
The Rapidly Growing Home Care Sector and Labor Force Participation
The COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the growing need for home care workers, who support their elderly and disabled clients in their homes with activities of daily living, and on the challenges of recruiting and retaining workers in the industry. This brief describes the state of the home care sector and its connection to the economy. It looks at home care as a rapidly growing industry facing significant challenges and at home care’s role in enabling working-aged family members to participate in the labor force,i which supports the Federal Reserve’s maximum employment mandateThere is ...
Journal Article
Pandemic Homebuyers: Who Were They, and Where Did They Buy?
Stable and affordable housing is foundational for participating in the economy, and homeownership is the primary form of wealth accumulation for most American families. Housing demand changed as households responded to the economic and social environment of the COVID-19 pandemic. As households moved because of these changing conditions and homebuying surged, many popular narratives emerged around migration patterns, “hot” places to buy, and what types of buyers were succeeding in the market.This research brief employs mortgage data from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) to examine ...
Journal Article
On the Sidelines of the Hot Economy
While the current economy is often characterized as ?hot,? marked by low unemployment, stable prices, and sustained economic growth, many residents are not enjoying the prosperity reflected in the aggregate measures of economic well-being. This report focuses on those who have not reaped the benefits of recent sustained growth in the economy. The report highlights groups who have faced barriers to economic participation and documents interrelated rising costs?particularly for housing, transportation, and childcare?that contribute to keeping people on the sidelines of the economy.
Journal Article
The Evolving Homebuying Landscape: An Update with 2023 Data
The years immediately following the pandemic saw large swings in the housing market, from a rapid growth in prices and homebuying activity in the early years to a sharp contraction in the market as price and interest rate increases challenged homebuying affordability. As part of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s work to understand the economic experiences of the communities we serve to inform monetary policy and other areas of our work, we released a report in the fall of 2024 examining trends in pandemic homebuying patterns through 2022. That analysis found that many groups of ...
Journal Article
Impacts of COVID-19 on Nonprofits in the Western United States
Nonprofit organizations play an important role in the response to COVID-19, but the crisis is straining their ability to serve communities. This report summarizes data from a Federal Reserve survey to assess the impact of the pandemic on nonprofit respondents and the communities they serve in the Western United States.
Journal Article
Climate Adaptation Investment and the Community Reinvestment Act
Climate change is already causing disruption to regional economic activity. Low-to-moderate income populations are highly vulnerable to these impacts, in part, because they often have fewer resources to adapt. The stability and prosperity of local economies in the face of climate change depends on how well the public, private, and civic sectors can come together to respond to the shocks and stresses of climate change. Collaborative efforts to fund climate adaptation not only reduce the burden on highly vulnerable populations, but they also offer the opportunity for co-benefits within a ...
Journal Article
Assessing the Durability of COVID-Era Capacity Gains Among Community-Based Organizations: Lessons from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program
To better understand the impact of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program’s conclusion on community-based organizations and on their scope and scale of work after ERAP, this brief draws on interviews conducted with practitioners involved with nearly two dozen ERA programs across the country. These interviews help shed light on how the dwindling and, in many cases, cessation of ERAP funds is affecting organizations’ capacity along multiple dimensions as they scale back, reorient, and move on post ERAP.
Journal Article
The rise of single family rentals in Arizona, California, and Nevada
The worst of the housing crisis may be behind us, but the recent housing market recovery opens up a number of new community development questions. Of particular concern is the potential impact of investor purchases of single-family residences, especially in hard-hit neighborhoods that experienced severe price depreciation and offered an abundant supply of distressed property. This Research Brief examines trends in rental housing composition in Arizona, California and Nevada and takes a closer look at local areas that have seen the fastest growth in single-family rentals. These three states ...