(photo: NY Senate Media Services)

April 08, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Senator Jessica Ramos on Coronavirus in Queens & the New State Budget

State Senator Jessica Ramos represents a Queens district hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic; she joined the show to discuss its impact on her constituents, how the city and state have responded, and the recently-passed state budget that was greatly impacted by the economic fallout of the outbreak.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org.

Coronavirus has shifted Census efforts (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

The New York Public Library had set up dedicated chromebook computers that only connected to the 2020 Census website. The Brooklyn Public Library prepared “mobile units” of internet-connected tablets that could be dispatched to community centers and groups. Outreach employees from the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC) and SOMOS Community Care were starting to canvas areas of upper Manhattan to help passersby understand the benefits of participating in the once-a-decade count, and collect pledge cards to follow up with people.

The Boro Park Jewish Community Council had used some of the money it received from the city’s Complete Count Fund to buy a “censusmobile” — a van covered with messages in English and Yiddish and outfitted with computers that would drive around the heavily Jewish area of Brooklyn, letting residents learn about and even complete the Census.

Now, the libraries and community centers are closed, the mobile units and the canvassers are staying inside, and the censusmobile is parked and unused as the Jewish Community Council has shuttered its main office.

The arrival of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has quickly upended life around the globe, and the multifaceted outreach operations for the crucial decennial count of every person and household in the United States have not been exempted. Every level of government, nonprofits, corporations, and community organizations have all had to significantly shift their strategies in response.

This has meant partly toggling to established digital tools like phone- and text-banking, facilitated by the New York City census office, which has had robust funding and outreach plans that have been shifted amid the outbreak. María Guzmán-Colón, the census manager at NMIC, said that with the nonprofit’s outreach staff grounded, most of those operations were being done via text, with “a list that [the city] provides for us as well as a list that we provided of our contacts, and people that we had gotten pledge cards from” before in-person operations stopped.

But many organizations have also been striving to think outside the box. “We've kind of felt that [text-banking] is an inefficient way of reaching people,” said Howard Shih, research and policy director at the Asian American Federation. “You can't really figure out if the number you're texting is somebody that is ‘hard to count.’”

Instead, the Asian American Federation has been focusing on identifying where hard-to-count communities already are online and reaching them there. “In the Korean community, KaKaoTalk is heavily used. For mainland Chinese, it's WeChat…I live up here in Westchester, and I know that there's a specific WeChat group for Westchester Chinese to trade information and resources,” said Shih. “We kind of have to find a person that's already in that network to be our champion.”

The strategy of reaching community influencers and enlisting ordinary New Yorkers to contact those they are still able to reach has become a centerpiece of the new census game plans. “You can make a poster at home if you have the materials, drop it off at your local bodega, and encourage them to put it up, because they are still open, and they are still community centers for a lot of people,” said Meeta Anand, the New York Immigration Coalition’s 2020 Census senior fellow. “I've been saying ‘think big but act small.’ And by that I mean, if you live in a building, write a note to the residents of your building. If there's a church or a mosque you go to, reach out to the leader and see if they're willing to include census messaging in however they're reaching out to their congregants.”

The main idea behind these pushes is that, as New Yorkers stare down what could be months of social distancing, they will not stop seeking community, and will find that community either in very specialized groups online or in hyperlocal spaces. Getting census messaging to influential people who are in these spaces then lets the word keep trickling out. “Instagram Live is becoming a huge space,” said Anand. The New York Immigration Coalition has been encouraging people to make videos of themselves filling out the Census, and “create them in their language, send them around. We’re asking anyone who might know any influencer at all, at any level, to create such a video,” Anand said.

Shih called it a “period of experimentation” for community organizations trying to do outreach. “People still want to connect socially, right? They just have to do it in a socially-distant way. The challenge for us is, people are adjusting their behaviors now, and they really haven't settled into a specific pattern of behavior so that we can actually figure out where people are getting their information, where people are keeping in touch with their loved ones. So we just have to try to pay attention, have discussions, and figure out what's been working,” he said.

Many of these organizations are still service providers, after all, and still being sought out for advice and support on matters of housing, employment, immigration, and other community concerns. They are responding to this need with virtual town halls or Q-and-A sessions on Facebook or other digital tools, and can use these opportunities to convey the importance of the Census, which determines many billions of dollars in funding every year, a state’s representation in Congress, and much more.

Once people have been convinced to complete the Census, there’s the question of where they do it. While there’s been much discussion around the U.S. Census Bureau’s efforts to shift the count mostly online — a strategy that community groups worried would exclude hard-to-count communities with inconsistent access to broadband internet and the hardware to use it — a separate, little-noticed innovation has actually proven auspicious: the ability to fill the Census form out by phone.

“That was already in place, luckily, so when we reach out to folks at home, if they don't happen to have a smartphone, or if they don't have a laptop, or there's some sort of technical gap, there is the phone option,” said Guzmán-Colón.

“The online option does pose a challenge for certain groups,” said Anand. ”And it's true that our way of overcoming that challenge was going to be ‘go to the library,’ which doesn't work so much anymore. So, we are encouraging people who want to fill out the census to do it over the phone.”

The system is available in 13 widely-used languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), and Arabic. The organizations that Gotham Gazette connected with all said the system appears to be working well, with the only gripe being slightly longer wait times for languages other than English and Spanish.

Though the pandemic has blown up outreach plans, there are some silver linings. For one, it provides a ready-made opportunity to relate the Census directly to New Yorkers’ lived reality, as its data is what ultimately undergirds the government’s response. “Every time they say we need 100,000 ventilators, that's based on the fact that there are X number of people in New York City, and their models are predicting how many people are going to be infected based on that information…If you're at home feeling powerless, here’s something that you can do right away that'll have an impact on the community,” said Shih of the Asian American Federation.

Moisés Pérez-Martínez, vice president of workforce, community and government relations at SOMOS Community Care — a healthcare network with 2,500 providers across Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx — said that providers are emphasizing that filling out the Census early is a great way to avoid further mailings and in-person visits. “We tell them, ‘the Census will go knock on your door if you don't respond to it, and if you don't want that for whatever reason, fill out the Census and they won’t come,’” he said.

“[The count] determines health care funding, it determines funding for first responders, it goes into decisions as to where hospitals are going to be based,” said Anand. When the organization has run its text-a-thons, she said that some community members had expressed annoyance, saying there were bigger concerns right now than the Census. She responds by saying she understands it’s a tough time for everyone, but it doesn’t help to hamstring the country’s ability to respond to such crises.

Health-related groups like SOMOS have unexpectedly found themselves in a unique position to continue raising census awareness, as one of the few types of community organizations that not only haven’t shut down but are even more present in people’s lives. “Every single day, in every single medical practice, there's a different audience,” said Pérez-Martínez. The organization actually filmed short information videos about the count, featuring its doctors, which play in waiting rooms alongside other announcements.

The varied strategies have yet to coalesce into a clear unified agenda, though Shih said that community groups around New York are constantly sharing tips, experiences, and best practices. In the meantime, New York City’s self-response rates have been low but still relatively encouraging given the city’s 2010 rates. As of April 4, only a few weeks into the count, the city’s self-response rate was 33.4%, while it was 38.3% for the state, and 43.9% across the country, according to the CUNY Mapping Service's census project. In 2010 New York City’s self-response rate finished at just 62%, compared to 76% for the country.

“We're lagging. That's not surprising,” said Anand. “We’ve always had an uphill battle in New York, and being at the epicenter of COVID-19, that makes the uphill even steeper. But I think what we will see is, once we get through an initial phase of people figuring out how they're going to provide services, what does this new world look like, more and more organizations are going to be able to get that census messaging out and we will start seeing a change in the response rates. New Yorkers have pulled together before. And we're pulling together now, we just have to do it six feet apart from each other.”

[Read: City Reconfigures 2020 Census Efforts in Response to Coronavirus - and Reports Good Initial News]

Gov. Cuomo & legislative leaders (photo: Mike Groll/Governor's Office)

Amid the unprecedented public health crisis presented by the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature managed to cobble together a $177 billion state budget, though slightly past its deadline, which contains a raft of legislation on criminal justice, environmental protection, public health regulation, campaign finance reform, women’s reproductive rights, election administration, gun control, and more.

But the budget session became particularly harried, and focused in large part on the implosion of the state’s fiscal condition given an expected $10-15 billion less in tax revenue than expected. There were days of suspension as several lawmakers themselves tested positive for the new coronavirus, COVID-19, and individuals, including state employees, were being encouraged to shelter at home to avoid exposure.

But Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, and the leaders of the Legislature’s two Democratic majorities, continued to negotiate and came to agreement on a wide variety of policies and spending plans. Yet, many policy priorities held by Cuomo or by legislators were abandoned, and with the post-budget legislative session in limbo, may not be taken up at all this year.

[Read: 10 Ways the New State Budget Impacts New York City]

Marijuana Legalization
Legalizing recreational adult use of marijuana has been on the Democratic agenda for years but despite the party gaining control of both chambers of the state Legislature last year, it failed to pass. Governor Cuomo, who once called it a “gateway drug,” said that it was one of his top priorities this year as both a criminal justice reform and an economic boon that could raise $300 million in state tax revenue annually. But he repeatedly insisted that it must accompany the passage of the state budget, and could not be done otherwise.

Ultimately, the bill failed again, and the governor continues to say that it’s unlikely to pass in the remaining days of the legislative session. “We're not going to get there. I don't believe we get there,” he said of legalization, in a March 31 interview on WAMC radio with host Alan Chartock. “I don't believe we get there because in truth that is something that had to be talked through and worked through and the Legislature wasn't here. I was doing this COVID virus. That requires time to do it right, Alan, you know, that is not a yes-no. That's a ‘How does it work? How about the police? How many licenses? Who gives out the licenses? How do you do minority empowerment? How do we coordinate with Connecticut and New Jersey?’ And no one has really had the time to work those things through. So I don't think we get there on that.”

Gig Economy Protections
Another top priority for the governor this year, which he mentioned in his State of the State speech in January, was establishing protections for workers in the gig economy. There have been several bills already proposed in the state Legislature, particularly modelled on California’s AB5 measure, which uses an ABC test to determine worker classification so companies cannot withhold benefits to individuals by misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of employees.

New York City has already passed legislation, like the groundbreaking Freelance Isn’t Free Act in 2017 that tightens payment requirements and a minimum wage for for-hire vehicle drivers, to ensure some level of protections for freelance and gig workers. But the state again failed to take action this year, and the governor has also indicated that the issue may be too complicated to pursue with the time left in the legislative session.

Rent Relief
Amid the coronavirus fallout there was a quickly growing clamor for the state to take action providing rent relief to struggling tenants, but no action was taken in the budget. Entire industries have come to a standstill across the state and in New York City, home to a majority of renters and with a higher cost of living than other parts of the state, residents have been devastated by the economic consequences.

Though the governor placed a moratorium on evictions for 90 days, people in the city who have lost their income have had few alternative means to cover the high cost of rent, utilities, and other miscellaneous costs -- especially given that federal money to individuals and families from the most recent ‘stimulus’ bill has not arrived yet, and some number of low- and moderate-income individuals don’t qualify nonetheless.

The governor has provided few answers about how he intends to solve the issue, which could lead to a crisis of evictions, and even potential homelessness, once the moratorium is lifted. Repeatedly asked about rent relief, he has pointed to his eviction moratorium and said rent could be looked at down the road.

Education Aid Changes and Charter Schools
The state sends billions of dollars in Foundation Aid every year to struggling school districts to meet their obligations under the state constitution. But education advocates have called for billions more, insisting that the governor is refusing to abide by the funding formula set by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity state court decision in 2006, which requires the state to provide funding for a “sound basic education” for all students.

Cuomo instead has said that formula is outdated and had proposed to establish a new “Education Equity” formula which would send more money to poorer districts and schools, but would not have significantly increased overall Foundation Aid. Some budget watchdogs have also supported that effort.

But, with the state’s finances in dire straits because of the coronavirus and widespread opposition in the Legislature, Foundation Aid was essentially flat this year and the governor did not impose his new proposal.

Cuomo also wanted to increase the cap on charter schools in New York City, which was hit last year, but his attempt to allow new charter licenses did not come to pass.

Home Stability Support
Over the years, Queens Assemblymember Andrew Hevesi has repeatedly advocated for his Home Stability Support bill, which would increase the value of rental assistance vouchers provided to families and individuals on public assistance who are at risk of getting evicted or becoming homeless. Housing advocates and experts say it would be one of the strongest legislative measures to combat the state’s homelessness crisis that has persisted for years, and the proposal has gained co-sponsors in both chambers (it’s sponsored by Senator Liz Krueger in the Senate) and was the focus of a sustained advocacy campaign over the last few months.

But the bill failed again and considering that it would require a massive infusion of state funds into rental assistance, it’s unlikely it will advance outside the budget or as the state faces a drastic drop in revenue.

Section 50-A
Police reform advocates and good government groups have long cried foul about Section 50-a of the state’s civil rights law, which shields the disciplinary records of police  and other uniformed officers from public disclosure. Under Mayor Bill de Blasio, the NYPD expanded the scope of how the law is applied and stopped publishing even limited disciplinary summaries regarding officer misconduct. The administration even successfully fought to defend its more stringent interpretation of the law in court.

While some have called for full repeal of the law, which has been opposed by police unions and others, de Blasio and Police Commissioner Dermot Shea (and his predecessor James O’Neill) voiced support for amending it to provide some level of transparency around police discipline. But the mayor’s push for such reform has been less than robust, though he’s repeatedly included it in his Albany legislative agenda since 2017, and no changes were made in this year’s budget either.

Good Cause Eviction
After the Democrat-controlled Legislature passed sweeping tenant protection legislation last year, housing advocates were optimistic that they would follow suit in this year’s session on one piece of unfinished business: the “good cause” eviction bill, a top priority of Brooklyn Senator Julia Salazar, among others. The proposal is meant to protect tenants living in non-regulated housing from eviction if they face exorbitant rent increases.

But, like the absence of rent relief measures, the bill also fell by the wayside as the budget was decided.

NYCHA Funding
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), public housing home to nearly half-a-million New Yorkers, continues to struggle to fill a capital need of tens of billions of dollars, stemming from years of apathy at all levels of government. New York City has a plan projected to fund roughly $24 billion of the current $32 billion repair and maintenance backlog for the agency over several years, but those needs could rise to $68 billion by 2028.

The state budget included no new funding for NYCHA, though advocates and the City Council were pushing for at least $2 billion more.

Changes to Taxes
New York State was already facing a $6 billion budget gap earlier this year, which had prompted progressive lawmakers and activists to push for new and increased taxes on ultra-wealthy New Yorkers. Then the coronavirus outbreak devastated the economy, with a projected decline of $10-15 billion in state revenue over the coming year, which made some of the calls for new taxes all that more urgent.

But Cuomo is opposed to increasing taxes and did not heed those calls, while many state legislators, particularly in the Senate, where suburban voices are stronger than in the Assembly, did not back the idea of raising taxes, especially amid an economic downturn and after the Republican-led tax overhaul of 2017 had a particularly negative impact on New York’s higher earners.

Gov. Cuomo at a state census conference in January (photo: Governor's Office)

Before the coronavirus overwhelmed New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo wanted the equivalent of a $70 million effort to ensure that New Yorkers are accurately counted in this year’s Census. That was to include $10 million just appropriated in the state budget approved this past week. But the plans behind the Cuomo administration’s census campaign remain vague at best and nonexistent at worst as the state struggles to combat the coronavirus outbreak that hit after New York state government was already behind in its census efforts.

Before the $10 million just added in the new budget, the state was meant to spend the equivalent of $40 million in agency operations directed at the Census, with various state departments and entities said to be developing plans for how to best encourage the census participation that is so key to the state’s ability to achieve an accurate count and secure many billions of dollars in federal funding and appropriate representation in Congress.

The remaining $20 million had already been included in last year’s budget for direct grants to counties and community-based organizations that can reach hard-to-count populations, but there’s no indication it has been spent.

Despite repeated queries from Gotham Gazette over the last two weeks, spokespeople in the governor’s office and the New York Division of Budget, which reports to the governor, have provided no new information about the status of the state’s census efforts, including what impact the coronavirus has had. The only plans they provided are from before the outbreak, and mostly involve public-facing activities by state agencies that have become practically impossible or pointless to implement given the state’s near-shutdown due to the pandemic.

With the important 2020 Census self-response period now well underway, there is no indication that the state has awarded the $20 million in grants, fully developed the promised agency plans, or altered operations in light of the coronavirus fallout. This stands in stark contrast to both the U.S. Census Bureau and New York City, both of which have laid out clear plans and announced alterations to them as the outbreak unfolded.

As he’s dealt with the coronavirus crisis and negotiated the new state budget, Governor Cuomo has made only passing mention of the Census in recent weeks, at an April 1 news conference, when he encouraged New Yorkers to fill out the census questionnaire.

City and federal officials have noted in recent days that it has never been more important to fill out the Census. The decennial population count goes a long way toward determining levels of federal funding that the state receives for everything from education and infrastructure to social welfare programs. In a public health emergency like the one facing New York right now, census data is invaluable in deciding where emergency responses need to be targeted. The census is also the basis for drawing electoral districts, which in turn dictates how many seats the state will hold in the House of Representatives.

The $20 million grant fund has been in limbo for months. The funding was meant to be distributed based on a report by a state commission formed by the governor and legislative leaders. The commission was created past its deadline and issued a report after months of delay. The money was finally meant to be awarded starting March 10, but the state has given no indication that the money has gone out. A Division of Budget spokesperson referred Gotham Gazette to Empire State Development for information on the funding, then ESD referred the query to the governor’s office, which did not provide any new information.

If people were not mostly confined to their homes given the coronavirus outbreak, state agencies might have had success in ensuring that a wide swathe of New Yorkers were aware of the Census and the value of filling it out, though that would have in part been determined by the various agency plans that have not been made public. The effort is being coordinated by a cross-agency workgroup, according to the Division of Budget.

For instance, the Department of Motor Vehicles would have displayed census ads at its offices across the state, visited by 12 million people every year. Those offices are now closed indefinitely. The MTA planned on running ads on digital screens and distributing census literature at subway platforms and in buses. At monthly customer forums, Metro-North Railroad employees would have distributed flyers and handouts with census information. Station Managers would have done the same as they greeted customers as part of the “Station Talk” initiative. But many millions fewer people are taking public transportation these days.

State agency offices were broadly meant to be part of the effort including the Office of New Americans, the Division of Licensing, the Division of Consumer Protection, the Division of Community Services, the state Athletic Commission, and others. It’s not clear if any of them are doing anything with regard to the Census, even in the coronavirus reality.

Some outreach avenues may still be available as most government services move online-only and the Census is digital-first for the first time ever.

There are about 19.5 million visits to the DMV’s website every year while the agency also has a database of 4 million email addresses – the homepage includes a link to the Census website but nothing more. According to the original plans, the state Department of Taxation & Finance will send out 16 million “informational flashers” through the mail that will this year mention the 2020 Census.

In contrast with the state, New York City launched a far-reaching $40 million effort to count every resident of the city, well over 8 million people estimated to be about 43% of the state’s 19.4 million population. The city awarded $19 million of that money in December to community-based organizations that are considered “trusted voices” in ensuring that people who may otherwise not respond or are wary of the government are accurately counted. The city also quickly pivoted when the coronavirus made on-the-ground operations unfeasible. The city census office renegotiated advertising contracts with the MTA, for instance, as ridership was plummeting and reinvested it into various forms of media that can reach people in their homes, and moved from in-person event plans to digital forums and text-banking.

Laying the early groundwork has also shown some positive results, as the rate of self-response in the first week after the Census launched was higher than in 2010. [Read: City Reconfigures 2020 Census Efforts in Response to Coronavirus — and Reports Good Initial News]

As of April 4, just a few weeks into the count, the city’s self-response rate was 33.4%, the state’s 38.3%, and the national rate 43.9%, according to the CUNY Mapping Service’s Census tracking project. The New York numbers have been somewhat encouraging to officials who hope New York City will be above its low 62% self-response rate in sum for 2010, which compared to 76% for the country.

The current self-response phase, the most important of the Census effort, is now due to last through August 14 after the U.S. Census Bureau made initial adjustments to account for coronavirus’ impact.

[You can fill out the census online here. A digital code is not required though one might have been/be sent to you in the mail. You can also fill it out by phone by calling 844-330-2020. The Bureau also offers assistance and different phone lines for various languages. You can find those here.]

(photo: John McCarten/City Council)

As the coronavirus outbreak causes more and more health, social, and economic damage, many New Yorkers need help. Below is a guide to some available resources (please let us know if there’s something we should add).

For updates from New York City about the pandemic, you can text the word “COVID” to 692-692, or “COVIDESP” to 692-692 for the same notifications in Spanish. 

Unemployment Insurance
If you lost your job due to the coronavirus outbreak and its fallout, the state is waiving the seven-day waiting period to claim unemployment insurance benefits. But the state’s Department of Labor has been overwhelmed with website traffic and calls, which the governor has said a large team is working to remedy. Visit the New York Department of Labor here.

Those filing for unemployment insurance should do so based on the first letter of your last name: A-F, file your claim on Monday; G-N, file your claim on Tuesday; O-Z, file your claim on Wednesday. (You may file Thursday, Friday, or Saturday if you missed your filing day.)

Last week, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a $2.1 trillion package that provides various aid programs during this crisis. For unemployment insurance, it provides “$1 billion emergency grants to states and 100 percent federal funding for extended benefits in states with an unemployment rate above 10 percent”; expands eligibility to include part-time workers, independent contractors, self-employed, and gig economy workers; $600 per week increase in unemployment insurance benefits for up to four months; allows for additional 13 weeks of unemployment insurance beyond what your state already provides; and “funds states with existing work-sharing programs, such as New York.”

Jobs
While there are many jobs websites across the internet, New York state government offers the NY Hire Now portal of job listings, and the Department of Labor itself is hiring, while also offering a variety of tips and services related to job searches.

New York City’s Workforce1 Centers are offering virtual help to individuals looking for work, and the city’s Department of Small Business Services also runs a jobs listing.

Food Access
435 schools across New York City have been allowing students and families to pick up three meals per day. Mayor de Blasio announced Thursday that starting Friday, any adult who needs food could also access it at those locations. He said family hours are 7:30-11:30 a.m. and adult-only hours are 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. People can find the location nearest them through this web portal run through the Department of Education website.

People can also text FOOD or COMIDA to 877-877 to get food access information from the city.

Many food pantries and soup kitchens across the city are open and available for people who need food assistance, though some have had to close and others may be on the brink, both due to the spread of the virus and challenges with supply lines. To find a nearby option, people can use this city website to find a food provider. 

City-funded senior centers are closed but providing pick-up and delivery meals for seniors who may not have access to food services.

Many grocery stores are adjusting hours to accommodate more people and opening early for seniors to be able to shop without exposure to the rest of the population. People should check the websites and social media feeds of their grocers.

Under the CARES Act, $15.5 billion was approved to support participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and temporary ability to expand the program, and $450 million was allocated for food banks.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed earlier this month, “provided the WIC Program with $500 million to remain available through Sept. 30, 2021 for increases in program participation,” according to the federal government’s Food and Nutrition Services website.

The New York City Human Resources Administration (HRA) has moved its application process online, so New Yorkers can apply for SNAP benefits digitally, increasing access during this time of social distancing and when walk-in offices are closed.

For those with SNAP benefits, they can now be used online at three retailers for those who wish to protect themselves and avoid being around other people. SNAP benefits will be accepted online in New York at Amazon, Walmart, and ShopRite, as designated by USDA.

The Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center is in the process of creating a comprehensive rundown of food resources by neighborhood, across all five boroughs, called Coronavirus NYC Neighborhood Food Resource Guides. 

Utilities/Mortgage/Evictions
Utility companies in New York have halted gas, electric, and water shut-offs until further notice.

All evictions have been halted by New York State Courts as of March 16, with Governor Cuomo ordering a 90-day moratorium on evictions. According to the NYC Coronavirus (COVID-19) and City Life website, this means people “will not need to apply for rent arrears (back rent) to stop an eviction until further notice,” and that “you will be able to stay in your home during this health emergency.”

For a period of 90 days, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued an order that requires “New York State regulated financial institutions provide residential mortgage forbearance on property located in New York. This will be for a period of 90 days and applies to any individual residing in New York who can demonstrate financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic."

Health Care Coverage and Insurance
New York State of Health, the state-run marketplace for health insurance, reopened enrollment for health insurance for “uninsured individuals to ease coronavirus fears.” The special enrollment period will remain open through April 15, allowing for many uninsured individuals to access health care.

In New York City, “NYC Care provides low-cost or free healthcare for all New Yorkers regardless of ability to pay or immigration status. This is not an insurance plan. Call the 24-hour NYC Care service at 646-NYC-CARE (646-692-3373) to enroll and make an appointment. Primary care, specialty, and emergency services (including hospital stays) are all available for NYC Care members. For help in other languages, visit https://www.nyccare.nyc/.”

Mental Health
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak and its fallout, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is providing tips and resources for how to manage the stressful situation, including limiting screen time, keeping connected with people, and maintaining daily routines. The city points people to federal CDC guidance around coronavirus “stress and coping.

Beyond tips, there are other resources available, including through NYC Well, a free, confidential service with counselors available 24 hours a day, who can “provide brief counseling and referrals to care in over 200 languages” for New Yorkers. People can call NYC Well’s helpline at 888-NYC-WELL.

Seniors specifically can call the city’s helpline at 212-AGING-NYC and military veterans can call 800-273-8255.

Governor Cuomo announced on March 29 that more than 12,000 mental health professionals have volunteered to help New York State provide free online services to those who need it during the crisis. This service can be accessed by calling 1-844-836-9314.

Domestic Violence Survivor Resources
There are widespread concerns that the coronavirus fallout will include increases in domestic violence.

“Domestic violence often escalates during and after a disaster,” said Connie Neal, Executive Director of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence in a press release from the office of Attorney General Letitia James. “Because survivors of domestic violence are often already isolated, with limited access to financial resources and social networks, it can feel even more challenging to find and receive the support they need.  But help is available through a network of domestic violence advocacy services across the state of New York. Advocates can provide confidential assistance with safety planning, emotional support, shelter, and referrals for a range of other community services.”

In an emergency, people should call 911.

The New York State Domestic and Sexual Violence 24-hour hotline is 1-800-942-6906.

The National Domestic Violence 24-hour hotline is 1-800-799-7233. The 24-hour live-operated bilingual (English/Spanish) hotline for the Violence Intervention Program is 1-800-664-5580.

The New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence has a list of available programs, broken down by county.

Safe Horizon, a non-profit serving individuals in New York City, can be reached 24/7 at 1-800-621-4673. Safe Horizon also has a one-on-one online chat system.

The NYPD’s Domestic Violence Unit has also put out some tips.

Small Businesses
Mayor de Blasio announced in early March that New York City will provide relief to small businesses impacted by the economic downturn brought on by coronavirus.

The NYC Employee Retention Grant Program offers small businesses with fewer than five employees a grant to cover 40% of payroll costs for two months in an effort to help the businesses retain employees through the crisis. To be eligible, those smallest small businesses must demonstrate that COVID-19 caused at least a 25% decrease in revenue, been in operation for at least six months, and have no outstanding tax liens or legal judgments.

For more information about the NYC Employee Retention Grant Program visit this website.

The city is also offering the NYC Small Business Continuity Loan Fund, which helps businesses with fewer than 100 employees that have seen a 25% or more revenue drop to apply for zero interest loans of up to $75,000.

For more information and to apply for the NYC Small Business Continuity Loan Fund visit this website.

Thanks to the recent $2.1 trillion federal stimulus package, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has a series of relief programs that can help small businesses nationwide survive through the pandemic.

The Paycheck Protection Program “prioritizes millions of Americans employed by small businesses by authorizing up to $349 billion toward job retention and certain other expenses.” Eligible businesses can qualify for a loan of up to $10 million determined by 8 weeks of average payroll plus an additional 25%; loan payments will be deferred for 6 months; and if the business doesn’t lay-off staff, SBA will forgive the portion of the loan used to cover two months of payroll.

The SBA is also providing the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program that can be accessed here.

The SBA will provide some debt relief for businesses. According to the SBA website, “SBA will pay the principal and interest of new 7(a) loans issued prior to September 27, 2020,” and “the SBA will pay the principal and interest of current 7(a) loans for a period of six months.”

Finally, SBA is providing the Express Bridge Loan Pilot Program that allows small businesses who already have a relationship with an SBA Express lender to access $25,000 with less paperwork and faster turnaround. “These loans can provide vital economic support to small businesses to help overcome the temporary loss of revenue they are experiencing and can be a term loans or used to bridge the gap while applying for a direct SBA Economic Injury Disaster loan,” the SBA website says.

2020 Census website to fill out the questionnaire

The U.S. Census Bureau faced a behemoth of an undertaking this year: counting each and every resident across the country’s 50 states and various territories. It’s a task that’s carried out every ten years and requires years of planning and untold levels of individual and collective effort, and can still end up being inaccurate. And all that was before the coronavirus pandemic sent the nation into disarray. 

The decennial Census count determines where and how the federal government allocates hundreds of billions in funding and determines the number of seats that states hold in the House of Representatives, making it of utmost importance for states. For New York, home to many “hard-to-count” populations and on the decline in terms of population and seats in Congress, an accurate count is all the more essential. 

The coronavirus has forced officials at all levels of government to drastically alter census operations. Field programs, planned for the second phase of the Census after the initial self-response period, have been suspended. Outreach campaigns have doubled down on messaging through digital and social media. The U.S. Census Bureau usually hires hundreds of thousands of enumerators across the country to knock on doors and follow up with households that haven’t responded. That hiring has been frozen. 

But there’s still hope. A predominantly digital methodology means the Census is easier than ever to fill out. Self-response continues and the deadline has been extended.  

In an interview on Wednesday, Jeff Behler, director for the Census Bureau's New York Regional Office, sounded a note of optimism while emphasizing that the Bureau has its work cut out for it. 

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

How has the coronavirus outbreak affected Census operations?

“We stopped all [hiring] because the public health and the health of our employees is of utmost importance. But the good thing is self-response hasn't stopped and that's the great thing about the 2020 Census. You can still go online, you could still fill it out, or call it in over the phone, or if you receive a paper questionnaire in that first mail-out, fill it out, mail it back in. And beginning April 8, we will be mailing paper questionnaires to every household that has yet to respond to the Census. And that's still on track. We're still able to do that. And that's the plan...until we get to the point in the environment in our communities where it's safe to start interactions again in public. Before we ever get to the point where we can knock on doors again, we're going to continue to work with our partners on getting people to self respond.”

“We're calling every applicant that has applied for a census job. We're calling as a courtesy to let them know, ‘Hey, our hiring has been suspended. You're still going to be considered. We ask for your patience, and oh by the way, have you filled out your census?”

On the importance of filling out the Census during a pandemic...

“I was just on a webinar where the Mayor of Syracuse was talking about what better way to support your community right now during this pandemic than to help out the future of our health systems, our hospitals, our emergency services by filling out your census, and ensuring your neighbors get counted, that your coworkers and people you may worship with, that they also fill out the census. That's a great way to support our communities so that we have enough hospital beds, we have enough emergency service personnel, we have enough clinics and hospitals or vaccines available based upon the true population numbers.”

Are there any encouraging signs around the early self-response, particularly in New York?

“I think New York State’s at 31.1%. That's amazing. Given that New York City is the epicenter of this whole pandemic, for roughly a third of households to go online or to call us over the phone or fill it out on paper is amazing...There's a lot a lot of counting left to do but this is a great start, and our partners and the Census Bureau, we're not pushing a pause button right now just because of this pandemic. We're reengineering the things that we can do with the resources we have to continue to push people to self respond.”

New York City came to an agreement to share homeless shelter data with the Census Bureau for the first time to aid in the count. How is that working?

“When you get a city like New York that was able to pull that data together from so many different shelters, that's huge. Because especially at a time like this, shelters will not open their doors to us in a month from now or maybe even two months from now because the pandemic may still be there. So it just shows the urgency and the willingness that New York City has to ensure they get a complete and accurate count.”

What about the street homeless?

“Actually we would have gone out at 12:01 a.m. this morning and conducted a homeless count for people who aren't staying in shelters, who aren’t staying in group homes. These are people who are living in the woods or in the forest or on a park bench. So we'll still be conducting that operation. The timing of that operation's still yet to be determined. We have to figure that out because we can't go out at a time where the public's health is at risk.”

On counting university students that live off campus...

“Just about every school in our region…has gone to virtual school for the rest of the semester. So many kids, both on campus and off campus, now live at home with their parents, whether that's in a different state or whether it's a different city within the state. We need to make sure those students get counted where they usually live or stay at college. So we're working with college universities. We feel confident in the way we count students who live in college and in dormitories. It’s those off campus students that we're [concerned about].”

[You can fill out the 2020 Census here]

State government leaders Stewart-Cousins, Cuomo, Heastie (photo: The Governor's Office)

A new state campaign finance system, with public matching money for candidates who choose to participate and lower individual contribution limits, will be enshrined in law through inclusion in the new state budget. It is accompanied by new and highly-controversial ballot-threshold requirements for political parties.

Using a modified system due to the coronavirus outbreak, the state Legislature voted through various budget bills on Tuesday and into the late hours on Wednesday, meaning the spending plan is late given the April 1 start to the new fiscal year, as negotiations continued among the governor and legislative majorities.

The campaign finance system had already been approved last year based on the recommendations of a state-created commission but was struck down in mid-March by a supreme court judge who ruled that such a commission could not be tasked with writing laws.

[Read: Judge Strikes Down New State Campaign Finance Law]

Last year, despite mounting public pressure and their own promises to get it done, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Democratic majorities in the state Legislature could not come to an agreement on a new campaign finance system including public matching of small donations and lowering New York’s sky-high contribution limits. They chose instead to punt that responsibility to the state Public Campaign Financing Commission, which was created in the budget.

After months of public hearings and expert testimony, the commission’s report was released and automatically became law in December, when the Legislature neither rejected nor amended it. But, the commission’s creation invited legal challenges from New York’s Working Families Party and Conservative Party, which saw it as a threat to the system of fusion voting that allows candidates to appear on a ballot with numerous party lines. One of those challenges succeeded when, on March 12, Niagara County Supreme Court Justice Ralph Boniello ruled that the commission’s powers were unconstitutional and that only the Legislature could create or change state law.

The budget bill approved on Wednesday addressed that mistake, and passed the same recommendations the commission had made. The law allows candidates for statewide office and the Legislature to opt in to a system of public financing that incentivizes small dollar donations by matching them with public funds. It’s similar to the system that has been used in New York City for over three decades.

The law drastically lowers contribution limits across the board, though government reform advocates say the limits remain too high nonetheless. Candidates for statewide office can now raise a maximum of $18,000 in a four-year election cycle from an individual contributor, down from about $70,000; state Senate candidates can raise $10,000, down from $19,300; and state Assembly candidates can raise $6,000, down from $9,400.

The most controversial aspect of the new law is the change it makes to party thresholds and ballot access requirements, along the lines of what had minor party leaders concerned when the commission was created last year, and what led to immense uproar as the commission’s recommendations were released and temporarily became law.

Statewide candidates now have to get 45,000 signatures from voters to get on the ballot, up from 15,000. For an automatic ballot line, a party must receive at least 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote, whichever is higher, every two years in a gubernatorial or presidential election, up from 50,000 votes every four years in a gubernatorial election. These new thresholds also take effect immediately, while the new contribution limits and campaign financing system won’t take effect till after the November 2022 general election. As was true when the commission crafted its recommendations last year, many see the results as especially favorable to Cuomo, who has said he plans to run for reelection in 2022 and is well-known to raise immense sums from wealthy interests, and who has sought to diminish the Working Families Party that he has warred with.

Candidates will only be able to qualify for funding once, regardless of the number of ballot lines on which they run. The system will be based on dual thresholds. Candidates for governor will have to raise at least $500,000 in qualifying contributions from a minimum of 5,000 contributors; those running for lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller will have to raise $100,000 from at least 1,000 contributors. State Senate candidates need to show $12,000 in fundraising from a minimum of 150 donors, and Assembly candidates will need at least $6,000 from 75 donors.

Statewide candidates can receive a maximum of $7 million in public funds between both the primary and general election, while Senate candidates can get $750,000 and Assembly candidates can get $350,000

The law creates a new State Campaign Finance Fund, but it makes no mention of how much money will be put towards the new system. The state commission-created law had set it at $100 million for a four-year election cycle. Funding will come from the state’s general tax revenues and from the abandoned property fund. State taxpayers can also choose to contribute to the fund when filing their taxes, and the fund can also receive private contributions. It will be overseen by the state comptroller and the state commissioner of taxation and finance.

The new system will be administered by a Public Campaign Finance Board within the state Board of Elections, made up of the four existing Board of Elections commissioners and three more appointed by the governor and the legislative leaders of the two main parties in both the Senate and Assembly.

The Working Families Party, which is among a handful of smaller parties that could see their automatic ballot lines at risk, reacted quickly and sternly.

"Governor Cuomo claims that now is not the time for politics — yet behind closed doors he is blocking voters from supporting minor parties and the values they stand for,” said Sochie Nnaemeka, state director of the New York Working Families Party, in a statement. “At a time when many Democrats are calling for fair and open elections, the Governor has made New York the most hostile state toward third parties in the entire nation. When he created a commission to wipe out third parties we sued and won. We feel as strongly now as we did then that the law is on our side — and we will win again in court."

Note - this article has been updated with details about the new campaign finance system including qualifying thresholds, maximum payments and the new state Campaign Finance Fund. 

2020 Census Day is here; many New Yorkers have already filled out the Census (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

It’s officially “Census Day” -- April 1 -- and though the decennial population count began two weeks ago, by now virtually all households across the United States should have received some form of notification from the U.S. Census Bureau informing them of the ways they can fill out the demographic questionnaire. Census Day itself is more of a marker, not a deadline, to rally people to fill out the questionnaire and the date at which households should count their members.

But as 2020 Census Day is recognized, the process this year has been marred by the coronavirus outbreak, forcing city, state, and federal officials to course-correct to ensure that each and every resident of the country is counted.

The Census determines levels of federal funding that states receive for all manner of programs, from nutrition assistance for low-income families and children’s health care to education, transportation, infrastructure, and more. It also determines how many seats each state gets in the the U.S. House of Representatives, and forms the basis for drawing electoral districts for municipalities, state legislatures, and the House.

After a very poor showing on self-response rates and a likely undercount of the city’s and state’s populations in 2010, New York leaders have put much more focus on and funding into the 2020 effort, to varying degrees. New York City government in particular has dedicated a great deal of energy and money into the effort to count its population, especially its many “hard-to-count” communities and demographics. The state’s efforts have lagged, and the federal government has been underfunding the Census Bureau (and Trump administration officials attempted to add a citizenship question that does not appear on the form but may have instilled additional fear of filling it out among many immigrants).

The Census can be filled out online, which is predominantly the methodology being prioritized this year. Most households will have received a digital code from the Census Bureau, though it is not necessary for filling out the questionnaire. The Census can also be filled out on the phone by calling 844-330-2020 or through a paper questionnaire mailed out by the Census Bureau, though only a limited number of households received those in the mail.

On March 12, the initial self-response phase of the Census began. As of March 31, according to the CUNY Mapping Service’s Census project, 31.1% of New Yorkers have already answered the ten questions asked by the Census, compared with the nationwide average of 36.2% so far. City officials were encouraged when the response rate by the end of the first week of the self-response phase was higher than it was at the same time ten years ago. Even now, the rate by March 31 was about the same as 2010 despite the challenges presented by the coronavirus outbreak. 

In 2010, New York State’s overall self-response rate was about 76%, nearly the same as the national average, while New York City’s rate was only 62%. The low-self response rates in the past are indicative of the concentrations of hard-to-count populations in New York, including seniors, children under the age of 5, homeless people, public housing residents, predominantly African-American communities, Native Americans, undocumented immigrants, individuals who cannot speak English or have limited English proficiency, amond others.

New York City is estimated to be home to about 8.4 million people, according to the latest Census data available, about 43% of the state’s 19.4 million population.

Officials have also had to overhaul their plans for conducting census outreach, as the coronavirus has brought the state, and particularly the city, to a near standstill. New York City benefited from having worked for months on a broad outreach campaign, with $40 million allocated by the de Blasio administration and the City Council to fund the entire effort. That included $19 million in grants to 157 community-based organizations to reach hard-to-count communities directly.

The city census office recently held a two-day text-banking campaign, with 700 volunteers reaching nearly a million New Yorkers directly, it reported. Of all the people texted, 116,159 replied, and of them, 35,116 had already completed the Census while another 4,925 promised to do so, the office said. They also released a new PSA featuring Bronx-native rapper Cardi B that’s running on TV and digital media.

But the city was forced to suspend all in-person outreach, which is particularly necessary for the second phase of the Census – the enumeration phase, which involves people hired by the Census Bureau to knock on doors and seek responses from those households that fail to self-respond. Enumeration can yield inaccurate data and is already a daunting task without the limitations posed by the coronavirus. The city has instead redoubled its efforts to reach people digitally, through television, radio, and print ads shifting money away from other pre-pandemic plans. Phone- and text-banking have replaced on-the-ground pleas to fill out the Census.

The U.S. Census Bureau also cancelled its field operations till at least April 1, and extended the self-response deadline from July 31 to August 14. New York State, however, has been playing catch up on its census efforts for well over a year. The governor promised a $60-million effort that involved public-facing activities by state agencies, which never seemed to get off the ground and now mostly cannot because of the coronavirus. Of that funding, $20 million was meant to be distributed to community organizations but has not yet been doled out.

note - This article has been updated to clarify that the self-response rate as of March 31 is nearly the same as it was in 2010.

Coronavirus complicates voter registration efforts & voting itself (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

A bill before the state Legislature expanding online voter registration in New York City has taken on particular urgency amid the coronavirus pandemic, its sponsors say, as in-person voter registration drives become impossible and New Yorkers are told to avoid leaving their homes but for essentials and emergencies.

The New York City Board of Elections currently only allows an individual to register to vote online through the Department of Motor Vehicles website. But any potential voter must first have a DMV-approved identification. In New York City, at the end of 2018, 3.8 million people had driver’s licenses in the city, which has a population of over 8.5 million, though many are under voting age of course. Driver’s licensing rates tend to be higher in rural and suburban counties, compared to the city’s dense and transit-rich boroughs.

The New York City Council attempted to open up the voter registration process through legislation under which the city’s Campaign Finance Board created an online voter registration portal that was ready last year. But the Board of Elections imposed additional burdens on the process, making it even more onerous than registering by mail, amid contradictory opinions about whether the city had the authority to create such a portal.

A bill sponsored in the State Legislature by Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn and Assemblymember Michael Blake of the Bronx, both Democrats, would give the Campaign Finance Board the express permission to launch that portal. It has passed the Senate’s election committee, which Myrie chairs, but has not yet moved to a full chamber vote or anywhere in the Assembly. Both legislators say it is particularly important that it be approved as the coronavirus crisis brings the state to a virtual standstill.

“We need to find every possible way to make sure democracy stays intact,” said Blake, in a phone interview. “We need to make sure that people are able to exercise their democratic rights. And just because someone is unable to go outside and live their lives should not mean that democracy should stop.”

The pandemic has already led to upheaval in the state’s democratic processes. Two special elections in New York City, for a Brooklyn City Council seat and Queens Borough President, as well as the statewide presidential primary were all postponed to June 23 to coincide with the congressional and state legislative primaries. Governor Andrew Cuomo suspended ballot petitioning and reduced the threshold for getting on the ballot.

Along the lines of the online voter registration push, there are calls for expanding automatic absentee and mail-in voting.

“Moments such as this, the crisis and challenge should lead to us having creativity,” Blake said. He said he has been raising his bill as well as expanded voting measures with leaders in his chamber. “We don't know when this will end. So what we should be doing is doing everything possible to make sure people are part of the process. You're using your phone to get news updates, you're using your phones to check on your loved ones. You should be able to use your phones and laptops to be registered.”

The registration deadline for new voters to participate on June 23 is May 29, and the deadline for the November 3 general election is October 9.

In a statement, Senator Myrie said, “If there ever was a time to bring New York’s democracy into the 21st century, it’s now. While we know there are a lot of issues on the table right now, our commitment to this issue hasn’t changed and we will continue to work with our colleagues to get it done.”

The Legislature is doing modified, social-distance appropriate voting in Albany this week as legislators and Governor Cuomo attempt to finalize a state budget by the April 1 deadline of the new fiscal year. As usual, many policy issues are on the table as well as fiscal ones.

Myrie and Blake aren’t the only ones pushing for their bill to become law. Jessica Rosario, a 21-year-old junior at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, has launched an online petition calling on the governor and Legislature to approve the bill and is working with other youth activists to organize a virtual day of action. “We're supposed to be socially distant but I think that we could still be socially aware at the same time,” she said in a phone interview.

She noted that the only other means of registering if you don’t have a DMV identification is if you print out and mail a form to the Board of Elections. “I don't know about anyone else but I'm in Queens, and I don't really feel like it's safe to go out if you don't have to for food or medical purposes,” she said. “And not everyone has a printer. Not everyone has that access.”

“I feel like it's never been more important than right now for things to move digitally. We have education moving digitally, people working remotely. Why not create a digital space for democracy?”

If the bill should pass, the Campaign Finance Board would be able to launch its portal almost immediately. The bill would then become redundant in 2021, when the state Board of Elections is meant to launch a statewide registration portal.

"We urge our state leadership to protect our democracy during this emergency by establishing an online voter registration system that all New Yorkers can access,” said Amy Loprest, executive director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board, in a statement. “With in-person voter registration events shut down, we are concerned that young voters and naturalized citizens, in particular, will be disenfranchised during this critical election year.”

"The NYC Campaign Finance Board's online registration system is a sensible, secure and timely alternative to paper applications and in-person registration efforts during this unprecedented public health crisis, “ said Luis Feliz Leon, a spokesperson for DemocracyNYC, a de Blasio initiative aimed at improving voter participation in the city. "We hope the City Board of Elections will work with the CFB to accept voter registrations submitted this way."

Note - this article has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for DemocracyNYC. 

(photo: Don Pollard/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

As New Yorkers find themselves at the country’s epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, a majority of them are worried that they do not have the financial resources to survive if the current situation lasts more than a few months, according to a new poll. And in this time of uncertainty and anxiety, the poll found that more New Yorkers are looking to Governor Andrew Cuomo to shepherd them out of the crisis than Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

The poll, of 807 registered New York City voters, was conducted online between March 20-22 by Change Research and was commissioned by Arena, a national progressive organization formed by former campaign staffers to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, which trains Democratic candidates and campaign staff. 

After a somewhat slow start, Governor Cuomo’s leadership during the outbreak has been broadly praised. His daily briefings are now being carried by cable and broadcast networks, and he has been commended for providing a semblance of calm and stability during a particularly unpredictable time, while also pushing for what New York needs to combat the crisis. In the new poll, Cuomo received an overwhelming 73% approval rating from those surveyed. And 47% of those polled said the governor is doing an “excellent” job of handling the coronavirus outbreak; another 30% said he is doing a “good’ job, and 15% said he is doing a “fair” job. Only 7% of voters polled said he is doing a “poor” job. 

De Blasio fared far worse, with a 40% approval rating. More than a third of voters, 31%, said he is doing a poor job of handling the crisis; while 14% gave him an excellent rating; 28% said he is doing a good job; and 26% said he is doing a fair job of it. 

The ratings aren’t all that surprising for the mayor, who has seen his favorability on the slide in his second term, well before the coronavirus outbreak. For the governor, however, the numbers reflected a significant bounce from other recent polling. As recently as February, Cuomo saw his favorability rating fall to 44 in a Siena College Research Institute poll, compared to 50% of respondents who gave him an unfavorable rating. As the poll noted at the time, the governor’s ratings have “been on a seesaw” for the last year. 

But political leadership aside, what worries New Yorkers more is how they will be able to weather the financial impact of the coronavirus, which has already led to many layoffs across several major industries and the suspension of non-essential businesses. 

“New Yorkers have lost faith in the Mayor and are increasingly looking towards the Governor to lead us out of this nightmare,” said Ravi Gupta, co-founder and managing partner of Arena, in a statement. “Most importantly, New Yorkers are financially strained and feeling the walls closing in. If relief doesn’t come fast, we’ll see suffering throughout the city at levels we haven’t seen in decades.”

The poll found that just over half, 51%, feel secure in their current jobs; 24% worry they may lose employment, while 14% said they had already lost their jobs because of the coronavirus. The rest had been unemployed before the outbreak began.

Only 42% said they would have enough money to meet their basic needs if the shutdown situation across the city lasts through the end of April; 36% were sure they wouldn’t have enough, while 22% just remained uncertain. 

If the shutdown lasts through July, the numbers look worse. Only 30% of New Yorkers surveyed said they were confident they could meet their needs over that timeline, while 47% were not. Governor Cuomo has warned that the pandemic could very well last for months beyond that, perhaps even through the end of the year, while New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot has often pegged September as a hopeful return to normal city business.

Part of people’s relative confidence may stem from the fact that a large number of voters surveyed, 42%, believed that social isolations and business closings would end within two months while another 28% thought it would take three to four months. Only 16% believe it could take longer. 

Despite the widespread anxiety, however, New Yorkers were broadly supportive of the measures that officials have taken to stem the tide: 93% agreed with the decision to close the city’s public schools and only 5% disagreed. In total, 80% also strongly support or somewhat support a “shelter-in-place” order, while 17% strongly or somewhat opposed it.