From the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epi.org/):
Tens of millions of Americans have lost their jobs so far during the COVID-19 pandemic and nearly half of adults live in a household that has lost income since mid-March. The result: dramatically increasing economic insecurity.
We testified before a Senate panel earlier this month to make it clear to Congress that households are facing huge challenges just meeting basic needs in the wake of the shutdown. We told Senators, that if Congress doesn’t step in with substantial additional fiscal relief, the country will almost surely face an extended depression.
This is a crisis.
This pandemic is worsening some of the long-standing problems facing the United States: racial inequities in housing, employment, and wealth.
As EPI President, Thea Lee testified before Congress, “In recent decades, we have seen surging economic inequality, which is a threat to our democracy. Congress must address longstanding racial inequities in the economy, while also passing key policies to decrease overall inequality and promote widespread prosperity.”
Since mid-March, more than one-quarter of households where someone has lost income from work, have not been able to pay last month’s rent.[1] And, with rent coming due again next week, we need Congress to act to prevent a wave of potential evictions and homelessness.
Add your name at https://actionnetwork.org/letters/add-your-name-demand-congress-broaden-the-moratorium-on-evictions-and-provide-emergency-rental-assistance-so-people-are-able-to-pay-their-rent! Join the EPI Policy Center and our national coalition to demand Congress broaden the moratorium on evictions and provide emergency rental assistance so people are able to pay their rent.
Evictions are even more pronounced for Black and brown communities. In May, 27% of Black households and 22% of Latinx households were unable to afford rent compared to just 12% of white households.[2]
As we recently told the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, job loss is occurring across virtually the entire economy, but it is hitting low-wage sectors particularly hard (think restaurants, bars, hotels, personal services, and brick-and-mortar retail). Because of disparate access to education, occupational segregation, discrimination, and other labor market disparities, Black and Latinx workers and women of all races are more concentrated in these jobs. As a result, each are facing greater job loss. Further, many people who have managed to hang on to their jobs have seen their hours cut.
We can’t allow a system of inequality to continue which is so heavily weighted against women and Black and brown communities. The House of Representatives recently provided $100 billion in rental assistance so people can pay their rent. This is a critical step to avoid a wave of evictions. Now it is time for the Senate to act. Together, we must tell Congress in a united, clear voice to pass emergency rental assistance and broaden eviction prevention.
[1] Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, Week 6, June 4-9: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2020/demo/hhp/hhp6.html#tables[2] “COVID-19 watch,” Coalition on Human Needs, June 12, 2020
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