Washington to Bronx: Drop Dead?

This week, just days before supplemental unemployment benefits are set to expire, we learned that the unemployment rate in the Bronx for the month of June was nearly 25 percent. Think about that: roughly one in four Bronx residents were out of work; about 355,000 people left jobless by this pandemic and the economic devastation it has wrought.

What makes this statistic even more alarming is that the Bronx already suffers from the highest poverty rate in the city, has suffered the highest rate of infection and death from COVID-19, and is home to the city’s biggest concentration of Black and brown residents, including large Latinx and immigrant communities. Even before the pandemic hit, many residents were living to paycheck to paycheck without an adequate financial cushion: according to our 2019 Unheard Third survey, 61 percent of low-income working Bronx residents said that they had zero to less than $500 in emergency savings if they were to fall on hard times. Many Bronxites work in sectors ravaged by COVID-19 like brick-and-mortal retail, food and hospitality, and personal services. If ever there was a compelling case for expanding federal unemployment benefits, one need look no further.

Incredulously, some members of the U.S. Senate from red states are balking at expanding unemployment benefits despite record job losses and business closures nationwide. They claim it’s a disincentive for people to return to work—completely ignoring the fact that most people are out of work, not voluntarily, but because of the distancing measures required to control the pandemic—and will contribute to the nation’s trillion-dollar deficit. Of course, these same right-wing senators exhibited no equivalent concerns about passage of the 2017 tax law which overwhelmingly benefitted higher-income families, businesses, and corporations. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office the 2017 tax bill alone is projected to increase the national deficit by $1.455 trillion over the next seven years.

For the well-off who can work from home during the pandemic and ride out the economic tumult, this may not seem like a health and economic crisis. But for far too many low-income, Black and brown New Yorkers, things are increasingly bleak. Without federal help our mass transit system, which low-income New Yorkers overwhelmingly rely on to get to work, school, and medical appointments will almost certainly see fares climb and service cut back. (Ridership is down considerably due to COVID-19, but when conditions improve a functioning and affordable bus and subway system is critical to re-starting our economy.) New York’s eviction moratorium will fully expire on August 20, leaving tens of thousands who can no longer afford to pay their rent at risk of losing their homes and joining the ranks of the homeless. It is imperative that the next federal coronavirus relief package include rent assistance, aid for the homeless, funding to keep mass transit running, and financial relief to states and cities hemorrhaging revenue as pandemic-related costs mount.

Opponents of extending unemployment benefits must understand that many people who want to go back to work are afraid to because of COVID-19. And those who have no jobs to return to because of COVID-19 are dependent on the additional $600 a week in federal unemployment benefits to pay the rent and keep food on the table for their families. In New York, these enhanced benefits will expire on July 26 adding to the distress and disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on the city’s most vulnerable communities.

A forthcoming CSS analysis examines the economic fallout of the pandemic and offers recommendations for providing relief to hard hit communities like the Bronx. In the meantime, Congress must act now to help New Yorkers hit hardest by the coronavirus and the economic crisis that ensued by extending expanded unemployment benefits in the next coronavirus relief package.

At the same time, our city and state leaders must take similar steps to shore up local programs that provide a lifeline of support to those struggling to stay afloat. This includes Fair Fares, which offers half-price subway and bus rides for low-income New Yorkers, and filling the gaps in federal programs that exclude undocumented immigrants from most public assistance programs, including unemployment benefits and stimulus checks. Perhaps most urgently, we need swift action to prevent an eviction crisis that will be devastating for our city—including expanding the city’s Right to Counsel law and extending the eviction moratorium well past the end of the state of emergency.  With New York City’s economy rapidly approaching unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression, we must recognize that recovery will require more than short-term fixes with arbitrary end dates. It will require investing in our people for as long as they need it. 

Issues Covered

Economic Mobility & Security