By: Paul Hoffinger, for the Sun This Week
5/28/2020
To the editor:
While many members of the House and Senate took advantage of the break in April for some rest, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, D-Eagan, has been holding energetic, virtual town hall meetings and met by teleconference with other constituents about pressing concerns. These included problems of food and shelter for some lower wage earners who have not benefited so greatly from the tax cuts signed earlier by the president. For example:
In our state, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, over a quarter of renters are “extremely low income,” the equivalent of $26,000 for a family of four, for whom there is an acute housing shortage. Over 60 percent of them pay a “severe amount” of their monthly income, frequently over 40 percent and often exceeding 50 percent, if housing is available. Craig exercised her leadership in co-sponsoring the Emergency Rental Assistance and Rental Market Stability Act of 2020, which addresses these very concerns. We thank her.
She noted Minnesota also has a temporary moratorium on evictions. And because there are many low wage Americans nationwide who face that threat, particularly in this pandemic where so many have lost their jobs, she is likely sympathetic to making it a national policy.
Regarding an increase in SNAP benefits, formerly called food stamps, she heard with active interest about the loss of some benefits by Minnesotans in recent years, and the more than doubling of demand for food at Second Harvest Food Bank in St Paul. She is likely inclined to help many would-be, hard-working householders, now struggling to feed their families in this time of pandemic.
I find it commendable that our congresswoman is going the extra mile to do a good job for folks who are very stressed by a difficult time in our country.
Paul Hoffinger
Eagan