IRP Poverty Dispatch

Time is running out for millions of Americans who still haven’t gotten stimulus checks — and they’re likely the people most in need.

Nearly 3.6 million Americans were out of work for at least 27 weeks in October, and the ranks of the long-term unemployed could keep growing.

Many Americans had barely been making ends meet before the coronavirus tipped the U.S. into a deep recession. Now, millions are falling into poverty.

With thousands of previously halted cases now reactivated, and new ones likely to flood the system soon, epidemiologists, doctors, and housing advocates say an eviction onslaught may heighten the growing spike in coronavirus cases.

Using food stamps to shop for groceries online has grown in recent months amid the coronavirus pandemic at Amazon and Walmart, a new report says.

The president-elect has vowed to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, which gave millions of Americans health insurance. But many insured people still struggle to pay for health care, research finds.

In October, the economy grew jobs but at a slower pace than earlier in the summer. The unemployment rate fell in October.

The end of a $600 weekly subsidy to unemployment benefits has led to a rapid rise in financial stress among households since August, according to research.

In New Hampshire, more than 10,000 people who collected unemployment during the pandemic have received notices that they weren’t entitled to benefits and had to return the money.

AUSTIN — Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Texas already had the highest number of people in the country without health insurance. Since then, thousands…

Florida has become one of a handful of states that is increasing its minimum wage to $15 an hour. Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25.

Zak Stern didn’t flinch when he saw Floridians vote for a $15 minimum wage.

Creators of the Portland-area approach tried to avoid the pitfalls of similar policies elsewhere, and are giving teachers large raises.

President Trump said affordable housing would hurt property values and increase crime in the suburbs. The story of one Wisconsin community challenges those assumptions.

Parts of Louisiana and the Navajo Nation face the biggest gaps.

Federal programs enacted by the CARES Act coronavirus relief law to help unemployed workers are ending after Dec. 31. Lapsing benefits will directly impact millions of people.

Latinos were denied fair pay, leaving them vulnerable to COVID-19. In this six-part series, USA TODAY investigates how racism killed people of color.

After fires and the coronavirus cut wages for many Central Valley farmworkers, a winter slowdown means families are unable to pay for necessities.

Lower-income states that expanded Medicaid may be receiving a bigger piece of the federal pie.

The city of Compton is launching a pilot program that will guarantee free, recurring cash payments to 800 of its low-income residents — with no strings attached.

Evictions in Arkansas can snowball from criminal charges to arrests to jail time because of a 119-year-old law that mostly impacts female, Black and low-income renters. Even prosecutors have called it unconstitutional.

One tenant said she told her landlord, “There’s got to be something for people affected by Covid,” and the landlord responded, “There’s nothing we can do.”

The pandemic has worsened longstanding conditions that have widened inequality, hindering Xi Jinping’s vow to “leave no one behind.”