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Rochester, N.Y. It’s safe to say that Shayla Black’s life is not what she imagined when she left her job in the magazine industry in January, feeling like she needed a change.
Before long, her quest for new opportunities was upended by massive job losses driven by the COVID-19 crisis. As Black’s finances started to dwindle and the rent continued to accrue at her second-story Harlem apartment, the 28-year-old found herself having to make some difficult choices.
“You’re just told in a society, like, you pay your rent by any means necessary,” Black said. “I was ready to pay my very last to pay my rent. But how would I pay my electric? How would I get food?”
A federal order keeping renters from eviction is about to expire. What happens next?
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Larry Warner, left, who is facing eviction, talks to an attorney during a mobile clinic at Harvest Time Church on Friday, Nov. 6, 2020, in Houston, Texas. Harris County Precinct One Constable’s Office in collaboration with the Eviction Defense Coalition hired 10 recent law school graduates to provide pro bono assistance.Godofredo A. Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
With the COVID stimulus bill suddenly in limbo after President Donald Trump said he would not immediately sign off on it, a possible extension on a federal order meant to provide legal protection for tenants facing eviction in the middle of the pandemic is still set to expire Dec. 31.
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Alex Balcum would count your buttons and proceed to push all of them, recalls a homeless outreach worker, but he was also one of the kindest souls we had the pleasure of working with.
He died in July in Rochester, one of 59 people whose lives were remembered Monday evening in Concord at the annual Homeless Persons Memorial Day vigil.
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They were mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and at least one grandfather. They were veterans of the armed forces, musicians, and church goers. One of them has been president of the NH Gyrocopter Club. Some were well known, especially to staff and volunteers at the state s emergency shelters and soup kitchens.
Coronavirus updates: CDC says up to 420K deaths by mid-January; California first state to 2M cases; 40M Americans face eviction Elinor Aspegren and Ryan W. Miller, USA TODAY
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