Share
A large and growing number of people are struggling to meet basic needs, according to Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey data released this week, and households with children in particular have had trouble affording enough food. The rise in hardship at the close of 2020 likely reflected, in part, weaknesses of the relief packages enacted in the spring, including measures that didn’t last long enough like increased jobless benefits that expired over the summer and stimulus payments whose impact faded later in the year and gaps in the measures, like inadequate nutrition and housing assistance, that left many families unable to afford the basics.
Compassion Reporting on poverty fighting and criminal justice
Associated Press/Photo by Michael Dwyer (file)Activists in front of Gov. Charlie Baker’s house in Swampscott, Mass.
Eviction bans tee up long-term housing crisis
Compassion | Renters who felt short-term benefits could end up worse off Posted 12/09/20, 04:56 pm
In the 1960s, Greta Arceneaux took out a loan to tear down her old house in Los Angeles and build five rental units on the property. With income from renters, Arceneaux, now 81, saved for retirement and helped her children and grandchildren pay for college. But this year, LA enacted protection for tenants affected by the coronavirus, preventing landlords from evicting them for up to 12 months. Now Arceneaux foots the bills for the property with no guarantee of income. One of her tenants lost his job during the pandemic and stopped paying rent.