There are a lot of factors that are dictating whether or not we see another stimulus package and also when.
For example, there is the ongoing confirmation of Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett which has complicated the negotiations to a degree.
There are the ongoing tight races for reelection that senators are facing which might cause some Republicans to support a package that they otherwise would oppose (based on the price tag).
Then there are the all important economic factors.
Lawmakers are presumably well aware of the current economic trends with respect to things like the stock market, unemployment, and those may help dictate when we see relief.
A recent figure that came out is that renters owe approximately $7.2 billion in unpaid rent.
The figures come from a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, which aimed at measuring the impact of coronavirus.
It uses a sample of 32 million renter households in the US that have at least one individual working.
It seems that around 23.5% of them, or 7.5 million, likely experienced unemployment beginning in March and lasting through August 2020.
Going along with this, the report estimates that 1.34 million renter households will owe around $7.2 billion in unpaid rent by December of this year.
The households are made up of 2.8 million adults and 1.1 million children.
When you average out the figures across each household, the report estimates that those people who are behind on rent could owe around $5,400 to their landlords.
This is yet another reason why more stimulus checks are needed as soon as possible.
With the way that the new stimulus bill is being worked out, a family of three could potentially receive $3,400.
A family of five could potentially receive up to $5,400. That is literally the exact amount that was estimated to be owed on average by those behind on rent.
Clearly, more direct payments could help millions of people get caught up on rent.
It is still unclear if we will see a relief package before the election.
We know that the key negotiators involved have already put pen to paper and are drafting up the terms but there is still some disagreement on things like liability shields for coronavirus and aid for local governments.
More and more experts are starting to speculate that if a deal is not struck before the election it’s very possible that nothing will happen during a lame duck session.
That would mean that no stimulus checks would go out until February or March 2021 which seems like it is far too long.
It’s not just the renters who would be struggling but also their landlords would be going without payment so these checks are likely needed all around.
Hopefully this week we will hear some positive news as figures like this become more well known.
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Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.
