Lack of stimulus relief could put jobs and lives at stake

BOSTON — In a desperate plea to get Congress to pass additional economic relief quickly, the COVID RELIEF NOW Coalition released an ad Tuesday morning.

Hours later, the coalition learned President Trump wants to halt negotiations until after the election which as you can imagine, even bringing a few D-words out.

“Extremely disappointing,” said CEO of Massachusetts lodging Association Paul Sacco.

“It is so devastating,” said policy director of Jane Doe Inc. Hema Sarang-Sieminski.

This news also comes after hundreds of public and private sector groups, sent a letter to Congress last week begging for help.

“Instead of doing 90% of those rooms, they’re doing 10%, sometimes 15%,” said Sacco. “What does that mean? No revenue coming in, no work for employees.”

Major industries like hotels, airlines, retail, and restaurants brought to their knees, but some of the most marginalized groups also needing relief.

“What it shows is a lack of acknowledging of who has been hurt the most with this pandemic,” said Sarang-Sieminski. “Time and time again we see that and we are here to uplift the needs of survivors, the needs of those impacted by racial inequity, by poverty rate, immigration practices that are harmful.”

This news came as Jane Doe Inc. was in the middle of a campaign to get more private and government funding that it needed even before the pandemic. Now workers realizing it’s more than $5 million shortfalls may not be addressed anytime soon.

“Isolation has had a huge impact on survivors and we have noticed a trend that survivors are waiting longer to reach out,” said Sarang-Sieminski. “Relief through the stimulus package is really going to make or break the ability to what survivor services look like in the Commonwealth.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare existing social inequities that leave the most marginalized community members vulnerable to increased harm. Isolation, trauma, and barriers to accessing resources are a few of the compounding factors exacerbating the risk of violence. Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, programs have reported:

An initial decrease in outreach from survivors at the onset of the pandemic /stay at home order has been followed by a significant resurgence in request for services for all sexual and domestic violence programs.
Black, brown and immigrant survivors in Massachusetts and across the country, who are facing a dual pandemic of COVID-19 and racism, are experiencing compounded harm and increased barriers to wellbeing.
MA residents contacting SDV hotlines are calling with increased urgency and reporting more severe violence compared to calls received prior to the stay at home order, suggesting that survivors are calling when the violence has already escalated.
Survivors are expressing increased needs with respect to food insecurity, risk of homelessness, and the need for legal services.
Programs report an increase in outreach from youth experiencing violence at home or in community likely due to lack of access to trusted adults in a school or child-care setting.
Requests for housing advocacy continue to remain high. The pandemic has highlighted what advocates already know. Survivors need affordable, long-term housing options currently unavailable in Massachusetts.

COVID-19 has disrupted every aspect of everyone’s lives, making survivor needs increasingly complex. Debra J. Robbin, JDI’s Executive Director, said, “In this time fraught with conditions that foster increased risk for harm, our membership and partner organizations have continued to offer comprehensive, trauma-informed supportive services and connections to trained advocates that can help keep survivors safe. When victims and their children have access to community-based advocacy that meets a wide range of needs, our Commonwealth becomes stronger. When we prioritize survivors, especially those from the most marginalized communities, in our recovery plan from COVID, our entire Commonwealth becomes stronger.”

While grateful for the last stimulus package, many say it hasn’t been enough.

“It didn’t buy a lot but it certainly bought I believe 2 1/2 months,” said Sacco. “Statewide there are 892 hotels and lodging establishments. About 60% of them have either closed temporarily or had to furlough staff because of a lack of business.”

American Hotel & Lodging Association did a survey last week and found 74% of hotels would be forced to lay off additional employees and 67% would not make it another six months and half of the hotel owners said that they are in danger of foreclosure.

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