Give Everyone Cash - Living Paycheck to Paycheck Won't Help Us Recover

By Rudy Espinoza

Whether we like it or not, California and states across the country have begun to reopen their economies. Despite warnings from health experts that Coronavirus cases and deaths will likely remain steady, state and local leaders have begun announcing their plans for the phased reopening of businesses and public spaces. 

But beyond the public health requisites that government officials have set like ensuring that our hospitals can safely manage surges in cases and that PPE is readily available, there is one requirement that leaders must add: a permanent cash assistance initiative to support low-income workers. Even in the face of budget deficits, now is the time to invest in the foundation of our economy: low-wage workers and entrepreneurs who have not only seen their incomes devastated from months of unemployment, but have also been saddled with the weight of accumulating debts from unpaid rent and bills. We simply cannot expect them to return to work assuming that their economic lives were unscathed by this pandemic.

Los Angeles’ street vendors are an illustrative sampling of the low-income workers and entrepreneurs in our city who have been devastated by COVID-19’s economic impact. In the last two months, we’ve heard countless stories from street vendors struggling to pay their rent, buy groceries, take care of their children and keep their cellphones on. The pandemic and economic shutdown is even worse for the undocumented because they are prohibited from receiving federal assistance due to their immigration status; they are left to vigilantly watch the news to see if local leaders will support them in some way.

Various groups have tried to meet this need to date, organizations and mutual aid groups across the state are supporting low-income workers. One example is my organization: Inclusive Action helped create the Street Vendor Emergency Fund, a direct cash assistance initiative that delivers $400 cash cards to undocumented street vendors. We’ve already supported 620 street vendors with the over $250,000 raised from philanthropy and over 1,200 individual donors.

Some elected officials have stepped up to support for low-income workers in their own way. Mayor Garcetti has established his Angeleno Card to support struggling families, and Governor Newsom has even attracted lawsuits for his commitment to supporting raising resources to support undocumented workers. Just this week, CHIRLA, CARECEN, and Asian American Advancing Justice have taken on the large task of distributing one-time cash assistance to immigrants in our city.

But our collective relief efforts are simply not enough. Short-term relief from leaders, nonprofits and mutual-aid groups is helpful, but it’s a small “handout” to the millions of unemployed who are facing months of unpaid rent and bills, and who won’t even reach the resources that have been cobbled together.

For too long, we’ve taken for granted  the low-income workers that we now deem as “essential.” Even before the pandemic, many were rent-burdened, asset poor, and with few opportunities to rise up out of poverty. For instance, a 2017 study from the Federal Reserve indicated that almost half of Americans would not be able to cover a $400 emergency expense without borrowing money or selling something they own. A recent study from the Pew Research Center describes that only 23% of low-income workers have enough savings to last them for 3 months. Indeed, many people do not have any savings for an emergency. These economic indicators do not even consider the disproportionate health impacts that COVID-19 is having on Latinos and Blacks.

The workers at the base of our economic pyramid must be taken care of. If we open our economy, we should acknowledge not only the public health implications of workers returning, but also the economic variables that impact a workers decision to come back to work even if they feel ill. Despite the culinary talents of some of the vendors we work with, I haven’t seen anyone vending because they simply cannot go a day without cooking; they are cooking because they are worried about the economic challenges they are facing. When a worker rushes to return to work because of mounting debt, they put us all at risk.

What would it look like if our requisites to re-opening our economy included the establishment of programs that provided guaranteed cash assistance to low-income workers and small businesses? What if the only way that California was allowed to re-open was if every Californian, undocumented or not, felt reassured that if they were feeling sick, they needn’t rush back to work because they could expect at least a little bit of cash assistance to support them?

Our cities and state can scale the work that so many community groups are attempting to take on now. At the very least, a requisite for our re-opening should be the establishment of a universal basic income that goes to every Californian, regardless of documentation. This economic “boost” should be given to everyone, regardless of their employment, with the flexibility that the recipient can use it to pay off mounting debt during this pandemic, start a savings account for a future goal, or prepare for the next crisis. We’ve known for too long that many workers simply don’t earn enough to move beyond living paycheck-to-paycheck. Now more than ever, we need to make sure that workers have a “boost” to help them recover.

Indeed, our impending state budget deficit may be a forthcoming excuse for not establishing bold initiatives like a consistent cash assistance program, but I’d argue that if we established a strong equity framework to guide our budget decisions, there is no other choice than to support all Californians with a strong social safety net that include a cash assistance program. Our budgets should reflect our values.

The economy’s reopening should not only hinge on meeting minimum public health requirements, but also on ensuring that we are prepared to meet the basic needs of workers.  Our economy can more quickly rebound, if workers are relieved of the pressure of coming back to work under any circumstances because their debts are mounting. Without a strong social safety net that takes care of everyone, I’m worried that our economy will struggle for many years to come.