“Tens of thousands of people in Miami-Dade County are literally at a crisis point trying to get ahead,” said Daniella Levine Cava.
By:
EFE
04:41 PM / 05/12/2020-
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The mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, and the mayors of two cities in that county on Saturday urged the US federal government and Congress to approve “as soon as possible” a new economic stimulus package given the serious social situation in that area of southern Florida by covid-19.
“Now we need help more than ever,” said Levine Cava, who indicated that the one received before was a “lifesaver”, but it has already sold out and, according to statistical data, Miami-Dade, with almost 3 million inhabitants, of which almost 70% are Hispanic, it is the metropolitan area with the greatest food insecurity in the entire country.
“Tens of thousands of people in Miami-Dade County are literally at a critical point trying to get ahead,” he stressed.
Negotiations for a second economic stimulus package are advancing in Congress, but this time the bipartisan plan would not include personal checks for $ 1,200 like the first, according to media outlets.
Levine Cava, who suffers from covid-19 and is in quarantine, appeared virtually at a press conference that mayors Francis Suárez, of Miami, and Dan Gelber, of Miami Beach, held in person at a point in the latter city where this 5 -D there was a free distribution of food.
With a long line of people waiting to receive food aid as a backdrop, Gelber stressed that “it is not their fault” they do not have money to feed their families, as they were left without work due to the tourist paralysis derived from the covid-19, from which more than a million people have already been infected in Florida and about 19,000 have died.
Gelber pointed out that Miami Beach is a city focused on hotels and restaurants, which are the sectors most affected by the pandemic, and people do not have to pay the rent of their homes or basic products or utility bills. .
To this argument Levine Cava added that helping these people is also “helping the economy” of South Florida.
Suarez, vice president of the US mayors association, urged municipal authorities across the country to work together and “without partisanship” to provide solutions to the people.
He stressed that the resources available to the municipalities are insufficient for the great existing need and federal aid is required
The accumulated cases of covid-19 in Miami-Dade until this Friday were 238,813 and the deaths 3,888.
According to estimates by Feeding America, a non-governmental organization focused on food, as a result of the loss of jobs and income due to the COVID-19 crisis, the rate of food insecurity in Miami-Dade has exceeded 17%.
In addition, in Miami-Dade County there are almost 6,500 eviction petitions pending execution, according to official figures.
They were presented between March and November, when due to a special provision by the covid-19, tenants who could not pay their rent could not be evicted from the rental housing, according to official sources cited by the Local10 channel.
Now you can be evicted and there are also utility companies, such as Florida Power and Light, that have resumed power cuts to defaulters with bills.
According to FPL figures, as of October, when disconnections began again, there were more than 30,000 customers in the state who owed bills for three months or more, and 40,000 owed two months or more.
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