Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s focus on the city’s housing situation — especially affordable housing — earned him an appointment as housing chair for the U.S. Conference of Mayors Community Development and Housing Committee. In his new post, Walsh will work with mayors from around the country to identify and solve housing and community development challenges.

“Housing is a key fundamental to my goal in Boston, and our goal as a nation: to create and sustain a strong middle class,” said Mayor Walsh. “I look forward to sharing the successes of Boston’s hard work with my fellow cities, and look forward to learning even more from my fellow mayors about what housing strategies have worked in their cities.”

Elsewhere in Boston real estate news this week:

• The video that Boston officials submit to Amazon in efforts to win the bid for the company’s second quarter was recently released to the public. The company that created the film, Neoscape, focused on the city’s transportation opportunities, universities, culture and skilled workforce.
• The most recent Swanepoel Power 200 list of real estate professionals featured a number from the Northeast, including Merit McIntyre, New England President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. Check out the entire list to see which movers and shakers made the cut.
• The Seaport District’s stock is still rising, and a developer recently made headway on a plan to replace the Whiskey Priest and Atlantic Beer Garden sites with a 22-story condo tower. An environmental group had filed a $13.1 million suit against the developer, Jon Cronin, over the project, but dropped it in exchange for a waterfront park, public dock and children’s programming, according to The Boston Globe.