Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
After agreement was reached Sunday night on a second COVID-19 pandemic stimulus bill, $900 billion of which includes enhanced unemployment benefits and direct cash payments, U.S. House member Ted Lieu said that, while not much, "it's better than nothing.
"I just don't think it's big enough to deal with a scale of this pandemic, but there are some really good provisions in it. For example, he said, $25 billion in rental assistance for people who lost their source of income during the pandemic.
As well as $284 billion in forgivable check protection loans for small businesses, $7 billion for broadband and $8 billion to ensure distribution and delivery of vaccines.
He added that the $600 stimulus checks to citizens are too small. "In my opinion, it's not enough, and that's why I look forward to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris arriving on January 20, and then we'll try again with another round of stimulus next year.
The also Democrat stressed that there is no good explanation for the fact that undocumented immigrants did not get the aid, except for opposition from the Republicans, however, mixed status families are included in this bill.
He also explained that in terms of paycheck or small business loan (PPP) protection, there were abuses in the past by businesses that did not have to receive the aid, so the House of Representatives created an Oversight Committee to see how their stimulus funds are spent.
In view of the probable tsunami of evictions that the state could have, he stressed that, although there is a fund for 25 billion dollars for this item, it will be difficult to make the funds available because there are many different provisions that apply to each circumstance.
Farmers and people in rural areas can also benefit from support, either through PPP or through a personal loan (PPP), in addition to accessing the Farm to Food Bank Program, where they can bring their crops and are paid for distribution, so they do not have to destroy their crops.
"We have a lot of unemployed people. We have people showing up in long lines at food banks. And that's why the progressive group fought for the stimulus checks. It's just too small, but something is better than nothing. But I hope we can put in place an additional stimulus for the American people next year," he said.
Lieu pointed out that many of the $600 aid checks will be deposited electronically, while those unable to receive them that way will get their stimulus later, he said during the virtual panel "The Income Gap is Hovering for Millions - No Adequate Relief in Sight," conducted by Ethnic Media Services.
Chad Stone, chief economist of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said he agreed with the economic stimulus that Congress has approved, but "more will be needed.
"The people who are bearing the brunt of unemployment in the housing crisis are those working in jobs that require face-to-face contact, most of which pay low wages," he said.
Of these, he explained, there are a disproportionate number of people of color seriously neglected by the old unemployment insurance system until before the crisis, when the proportion of unemployed workers was at an all-time low.
After the $600 a week received by those who lost their jobs due to the pandemic was eliminated at the end of July, "there was no more stimulus to sustain the recovery and the economy slowed down.
"Unemployment is still high, the number of jobs is still huge, and UI benefits were woefully inadequate without that $600 for those who needed it most," he added.
According to their report, in November the unemployment rate was three points higher than in February of this year, however, for African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans, the figure rose to four or 4.5 points higher compared to the second month of 2020.
In this regard, he noted that there is a legacy of racism in the country, "the discrimination continues, the workers we are talking about, they are the last to be hired and the first to be fired. There are still many disparities in the issue of hiring".
Now, the enhanced federal unemployment benefit will offer $300 instead of $600, for up to 11 weeks (March 2021). "It's good that they've spread, but the economy is not going to get back to where it should be."
"Congress and President Biden, as well as Vice President Harris, will need to work, among other things they are doing, to make sure we have the stimulus we need to alleviate the difficulties. That will be necessary to generate a robust, sustainable and equitable recovery in the future," he said.
For Peter Hepburn, assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University and also a researcher in the Princeton Eviction Laboratory, the United States faced a rental housing crisis long before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, according to data extracted from the Eviction Tracking System (ETS), it is estimated that the protections implemented during the pandemic have prevented at least 1.6 million eviction requests throughout the country, cases that in the absence of new protections will be reflected in 2021.
This, he said, would cause an increase in the number of homes on trial, and risk displacing an untold number of families.
"I think, however, that unless there are sufficient rental assistance programs, we have every reason to expect that you will face a large number of evictions. The scale of the problem is also evident when we look at the amounts that landlords claim for eviction cases," he said.
He added that those belonging to the African-American community are the most affected by the eviction crisis, as they receive more than 35 percent of all eviction requests.
"The history of housing in this country is a long history of systematic racial dispossession and exclusion. We continue to see that in rental housing today there is a risk of displacement through eviction," he said.
Because, he said, wages, especially for low-skilled workers, have basically stagnated over the past 20 years, while at the same time rents have increased dramatically. "So there's a growing proportion of tenants who are burdened by housing costs and haven't really seen their salary increase in decades.
In California, the moratorium on evictions is scheduled to expire on January 31; however, the moratorium is expected to be extended for one month, since the situation is in the middle of winter. However, he said, much will depend on what the Joe Biden administration does starting January 20, with the potential to extend the federal moratorium on evictions.
"I think it's very important that the federal government get busy on evictions in order to achieve broader structural reforms. I hope you know that at a time when we are thinking critically about eviction, some of the changes that are being implemented now in response to the pandemic are carried over into the future so that when we come out of this terrible time, we can take some of the policies that have worked well," he concluded.
