Title: Lamont: Extending $600-a-week federal jobless benefit may 'discourage work'
Headings: Lamont: Extending $600-a-week federal jobless benefit may ‘discourage work’
Lamont: Extending $600-a-week federal jobless benefit may ‘discourage work’
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Content: A historically high number of Americans, especially blacks and Latinos, are missing their housing payments and eviction protections put in place at the beginning of COVID-19′s spread in the United States are beginning to expire. Housing advocates expect a housing “apocalypse” when more than 30 million unemployed Americans lose the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits. Columbia University researchers estimate that homelessness could increase because of evictions and foreclosures by between 40% and 45% this year over where it was in January 2019. Meanwhile, in a study published in 2008, the last time the nation saw a surge in unemployment, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, determined there’s a multiplier effect leading to a $1.64 increase in GDP for every dollar of unemployment benefits spent. Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said more federal stimulus – in the form of direct payments — is needed to help restart the economy. While Mnuchin did not endorse an extension of federal unemployment benefits, he said the White House may back another round of stimulus checks. “ It’s something that we’re very seriously considering,” Mnuchin said. The extended unemployment benefits and the initial round of stimulus checks was part of Congress’s $2 trillion-plus CARES Act passed in March. Qualifying American adults received a one-time payment of $1,200, and an additional $500 for every dependent claimed under the age of 17. Free to Read.