So far, lower income workers have been hit the hardest during the pandemic. As a result, lower-end housing has seen the lowest rent collection, but that could change and the recession worsens. "The data certainly indicates that both job losses and missed payments are correlated with income, concentrating a majority of the housing insecurity among lower-wage workers," says Warnock. "But as consumer spending drops, the financial impacts do eventually make their way up the income distribution and affect high-wage jobs as well. The financial risk is not evenly distributed, but I think there are very few workers, even high-earners, who haven't felt at least some concern about losing their jobs."

While renters are struggling, homeowners are in a better position to weather the storm. "I think homeowners are in a more favorable position at the moment," says Warnock. "I don't think missed or late payments are as immediately threatening to homeowner housing security as they are for renters. Anecdotally, my sense is that banks are putting a lot of work into restructuring mortgages so that homeowners don't default on them—for example, tacking missed payments onto the end of a mortgage. That type of arrangement doesn't really work for renters, especially those who rent from non-institutional and mom-and-pop landlords who themselves have housing bills to cover."