CLEARWATER, Fla. — Eileen Lymus-Sanders received her final $600 weekly check from the federal CARES Act last week.
Now the 53-year-old, who has been laid off since March from her gig performing aboard ships for a major cruise line, fears she soon won’t be able to pay her mortgage—or any bills.
“I continue to email and basically—I hate to say it, but I’m begging for a moratorium (on her privately-held mortgage) and it’s not being granted,” she said. “It's looking bleak."
As a contract worker, Lymus-Sanders receives just $125 a week from the state for unemployment. The maximum available weekly unemployment benefit in Florida is $275 before taxes.
"We've all been paying that 'U-I' on our paychecks, that unemployment insurance,” Lymus-Sanders said.
“If I went back and pulled out every paystub from the time I was 14 until now, I think that $600 is not too much to ask."
As of Monday evening, Congress has yet to reach a deal on a coronavirus relief package and whether to extend enhanced unemployment benefits, which expired at the end of July.
Republicans want to reduce the $600 checks, arguing it’s a disincentive for some to go back to work because it’s too much money.
With no deal in Congress, unemployed Floridians are left with some of the stingiest state benefits in the country.
Since April, nearly $10 billion has been paid out to more than two million Floridians in the form of those weekly $600 Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation checks, which has proven to be a major lifeline for individuals like Lymus-Sanders.
Nearly one-third of Floridians say they’ve missed a rent or mortgage payment since the start of the pandemic, or fear they could miss the next, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. An estimated 600,000 Floridians are behind on monthly utility bills, utility officials recently told the Florida Public Service Commission.
Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, says the longer it takes Congress to act, the more it could cost the state and economy in the long-run.
"The benefits have kept people afloat,” Eskamani said. "Maintaining a sense of housing security, ensuring folks are paying their bills on time, it's actually cheaper to do that than the cost of someone becoming homeless, the cost of someone having to rely on more social services to get their life back on track."
Eskamani said she’d like to see the cap on state benefits increased, something Gov. Ron DeSantis has repeatedly said is the responsibility of the legislature. However, a request for a special session in May to address issues just like this was denied after every Republican state lawmaker voted against it.
Asked Monday if the state would step in to provide help, DeSantis told WFOR-TV he can't act "unilaterally," adding there "most likely" would be another round of $1,200 stimulus checks coming from the federal government.
"If we need to act in Florida, I'd be happy to do it," DeSantis said.
Even the fiscally conservative think tank Florida TaxWatch, often critical of government spending, has expressed a desire to see the federal unemployment aid extended.
“Because through no fault of their own, many unemployed Floridians are at, or near, the end of their rope,” said Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro.
“This would be a $9 billion economic booster shot in the arm to Florida’s economy while being fiscally prudent, compassionate, and assisting with re-employment efforts.”
In the meantime, Florida's moratorium on evictions and foreclosures has been extended until Sept. 1. The state has also opted to waive for another month the requirement that unemployed Floridians search for a job if they are receiving food assistance benefits.
In Hillsborough County, the online process opened Monday for income-qualifying residents to apply for rental and utility assistance.
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