City Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach) shined a light on the thousands unemployed in New York City as of late who are scrounging to gather the money to pay their high-priced rent by calling upon Congress to pass the “Emergency Money for the People Act”.
The Act, introduced originally by U.S. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Tim Ryan (D-OH), would provide all Americans aged 16 and up, earning less than $130,000, a $2,000 a month stipend until the state of emergency is over, or for no more than 12 months. Brannan has introduced a resolution in the city council in support of the federal stipend.
Brannan acknowledged that the previous coronavirus relief packages, like the ones from City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) that provided $550 payments for some adults and the CARES Act from President Trump which provided a one-time payment of $1,200 for those earning less than 75,000, was not enough.
“A one-time $1,200 payment was a nice gesture, but that doesn’t even cover one month’s rent for most of my district. We are seeing record unemployment, lost wages, a depressed economy, and businesses shuttered,” Brannan wrote to KCP.
The status of our economy being at a record low is hard to argue with. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, more than 33 million Americans have filed for unemployment since mid-march and stats coming from the NYS Department of Labor, showed more than 733,000 people in New York City filed for unemployment benefits over a seven-week period ending April 25.
Brannan argues that it should not be the job of the average American to have to climb out of this pot hole on his/her own, especially when the government was directly responsible for the shutdown in the first place.
“The only solution fit for this crisis is to provide every American with a monthly $2,000 check for a year, or until employment numbers bounce back,” he said.
Although Governor Cuomo’s executive order that declared a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures for 90 days was extended till August 20, rent and mortgage payments are still intact, and the average rent for New York City apartments is well over $2,000 per month, according to Brannan.
“I’m merely advocating for Congress to give back some of the money that hard-working Americans have contributed from their paychecks for their entire lives. That’s what this crisis demands, and it’s the minimum that New Yorkers and all Americans deserve,” finished Brannan.
