Folks are hurting. The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled the glaring inequalities of this country as millions of Black, Disabled, and low-income workers have been furloughed, laid off, and/or provided just one $1,200 stimulus check to weather this economic crisis.
At present, an estimated 40 million Americans are at-risk of homelessness. Full-time minimum wage earners cannot afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States, Black and low-income households spend nearly 50 percent of their income on housing alone, and 10.7 million Americans are currently unemployed. Many families cannot afford to maintain a roof over their heads, let alone meet other basic needs—such as full-time childcare, groceries, or even COVID-19 related medical expenses.
The Center for Disease Control’s national eviction moratorium ends on December 31st, leaving as much as 43 percent of renter households—overwhelmingly Black—vulnerable to eviction at the end of THIS month. To allow evictions to occur in the midst of a pandemic is dangerous, inhumane, and grossly irresponsible. Black and low-income people are not indispensable. We need #DirectCashRelief Now!
It’s time for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of Congress, to do what we’ve hired them to: enact a Guaranteed Income and provide our communities with direct cash payments (min. $2,000/monthly) to survive the pandemic and beyond. A Guaranteed Income is essential to keeping us safe as well as bringing about the shift in systemic inequality we deserve. #StimulusNow #DirectCashRelief #GuaranteedIncome
