Brooklyn Coronavirus Update and Open Thread: Jobs, Evictions, Hope (5/8/20)

We’re in the eighth week of sheltering in place and the 34th day of home schooling for New York City schools.

The official unemployment rate surged to 14.7 percent on the loss of more than 20.5 million jobs in April — not more than the Depression but worse than anything seen since.

Governor Cuomo Thursday extended the moratorium on evictions through Aug 20, and said protection for landlords who can’t pay their mortgages is in the works. As far as what will happen when the moratorium is lifted, that will be dealt with when we get there, he added.

The outlook for the real estate industry is looking sunnier in recent days. Bess Friedman of Brown Harris Stevens predicts stage 2 businesses such as real estate will be able to hold open houses with new social distancing measures in place in June.

Interest in real estate amongst buyers and renters has returned to nearly normal after dropping dramatically in March, as measured by traffic to real estate listings sites such as Zillow, agent Lindsay Barton Barrett of Douglas Elliman wrote in an email.

What are your thoughts, and how are you weathering the shutdown? What do you think should be done in Brooklyn to combat the spread of the virus and blunt the damage to local businesses and jobs? Please feel free to comment in a respectful manner (please, no personal attacks, nothing libelous). If you are not already logged in, go up to the top right hand side of the page and log in to be able to comment.