Brooklyn Coronavirus Update and Open Thread: Unemployment, Evictions, Mortgages (4/23/20)

We’re in the sixth week of sheltering in place and the 23rd day of home schooling for New York City schools.

In the past week, 4.4 million filed for unemployment, bringing the total over the past five weeks to more than 26 million. However, those stats undercount the true number of people who are out of work. Getting benefits in New York remains a “Kafkaesque mess,” as one Brooklyn resident put it to Gothamist.

The New York City Council is considering a bill that would postpone evictions of both residents and businesses for a year. It would also force the city to provide private rooms for the homeless.

Meanwhile, the U.S.’s Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are moving to buy mortgage loans that are in forbearance. This is good news for stressed homeowners and for the housing market, and will help make it possible for mortgage lending to continue. As of this month, about 6 percent of mortgages or 3 million total are in forbearance, according to the latest numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

In an effort to help make a staged reopening of business possible, Michael Bloomberg is setting up a contact tracing program for the Tri-State area and will donate $10 million to start. In the same vein, New York City will double its testing capacity, according to Cuomo.

How are you weathering the shutdown, and what are your concerns and thoughts? What do you think should be done in Brooklyn to combat the spread of the virus and save 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.