A pandemic in public assistance
Broward County residents are struggling to pay bills during COVID-19 and the state of Florida needs to do more to financially help its’ residents.
BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Not even warnings of an inevitable health pandemic could have inspired Florida lawmakers to update a flawed system that millions may have to depend on — until an actual pandemic crippled the state’s economy.
In the first week of March, 5,325 Floridians submitted a claim for unemployment benefits. On March 24, that number eclipsed over 74,000 claims — and is steadily rising. Florida currently employs two methods to apply for unemployment benefits — by phone and through CONNECT — the state’s detrimentally flawed application system.
The problematic application was first briefed and ignored by former Gov. Rick Scott in 2014. In 2019, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was also briefed on the same rampant glitches, errors, and other problems that were plaguing Florida’s own unemployed citizens — a briefing that was covered up by touting a record-low unemployment rate of 2.8 percent.
On the cusp of a statewide coronavirus outbreak, the mandatory closures of Florida’s restaurants, public areas, and industries has led to rampant layoffs, furloughs, and uncertainty for Floridians and their economic futures. In the third week of March, the unemployment system in the state was effectively overrun — a point where many callers were just receiving busy phone recordings.
Despite a commitment to alleviate worry by adding extra Internet servers and hiring more than a hundred workers to assist phone lines, the real detriment comes to the amount Floridians will receive — only a maximum benefit of $275 a week for a maximum of 12 weeks.
Broward County, one of Florida’s most urban counties, has the fifth-highest estimated cost of living, with a 2018 average of around $39,000 annually. A current minimum-waged employee working full-time would not be able to meet half of the current cost of living in the county.
That estimated cost of living, which is only composed of the most basic expenses — housing, food, taxes, and healthcare — translates to roughly $750 a week per individual. Car insurance, payments, as well as leisure activities or hobbies are not included.
In 2011, Former Gov. Rick Scott signed into legislation the damning nail in the coffin that relinquished Florida from divvying out unemployment benefits that fairly resembled the amount of earnings in support of an employer-friendly tax cut in efforts to save $100 million a year. This, coupled with a stringent qualification policy to receive benefits, dismantled the percentages of Floridians receiving benefits, but did not accurately represent all of the unemployed were able to find work.
Broward County’s now-unemployed residents will have to ironically deal with the country’s fifth-lowest unemployment insurance compensation, if approved, to qualify for the extra $600 that the government is supplementing for 13 weeks in accordance with 2020’s $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
To date, there is no immediate end-date for Broward County’s emergency order barring all non-essential retail and commercial businesses to operate, leaving thousands of Floridians in limbo over their next career move.
Many of these Floridians barely survive on their current wages, and an emergency fund was an afterthought with the rising cost of living annually. Florida lawmakers must act fast to rectify the system and rescind the outdated 2011 mandate that restricts unemployment benefits, if they want to maintain voter confidence leading into the subsequent election seasons.
So far, DeSantis has listened to various worker groups and unions to demand that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity waive all restrictions on the program, such as demanding that people provide five potential employers a week to the department in order to receive benefits.
Although DeSantis is being praised for limiting the Department of Economic Opportunity’s power over the unemployed, he has not committed to raise benefit limits or weeks allocated for Floridians.
It is time for DeSantis to commit to protecting the people of this great state financially. A maximum benefit of $275 a week will not provide adequate compensation for those suffering from the coronavirus, or suffering from the fact that they will not be able to pay their bills.
Florida residents depend on the moves of DeSantis and Florida’s lawmakers more than ever before. This pandemic does not stop collection agencies from chasing after the people that DeSantis has sworn to protect. This pandemic will not cease car companies from repossessing vehicles with lacking payments or crushing credit scores due to not being able to make payments on mortgages or credit cards.
The effects of coronavirus on the state will be devastating, and its spread will last for as long as the virus thrives. However, in times of darkness, the men and women whom govern this state can become a beacon of positivity by showing that they unequivocally support Floridians through this pandemic.
