NOTES FROM THE FRONT LINES

Nationwide Rent Strike Looms
 Organizers in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and several other large U.S. cities have urged renters not to pay their May rent.
The national rent strike is intended to call attention to the plight of the one-third of Americans who don’t own the places where they live. About half of those renters pay a third or more of their income in rent and utilities, a group economists designate as “cost-burdened.”
The majority of renters earn modest to low incomes and have been hit hardest by the economic shutdown.
FirstKey Homes and other major national landlords have offered rent deferral programs to tenants in several locations.
Landlords say that timely rent payments are necessary for them to keep properties in good repair and make their mortgage and property tax payments on time.
U.S. Hotels and Restaurants Shorted by Government Aid Program
During March, spending at eateries and lodging establishments fell 26.4 percent, while spending across the broader economy declined at only 6.1 percent.
Hotels and restaurants account for 14.1 percent of the small-business economy, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and small operations employ 61 percent of the hospitality sector’s workforce. But these businesses received only 8.9 percent of federal aid for small businesses in the recent CARES Act bailout program.
The second round of the federal bailout specifically targeted small businesses in general but still made no special provisions for inns and restaurants.