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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWaiting for the Help That Was Promised in Eastern Kentucky
The stimulus checks are gone, and unemployment claims remain unprocessed. The Jaynes family is holding on to half a tank of gas and a dollar-fifty in change.
By Oliver Whang
October 27, 2020
Robin Jaynes, whos forty-five, was born and raised in Magoffin County, in eastern Kentucky. Not quite a decade ago, her third husband, Tim, was forced to retire, and Robin, who spent much of her twenties and thirties raising six children, began looking for a job. Tim grew up at the head of a holler in neighboring Johnson County, near the West Virginia border, and served for fifteen years in the Army, until he was honorably discharged, in 1993, after developing a tremor, and he went to work at Family Dollar. He started seeing Robin ten years later, and they had a son, Timmy, in 2006. After eighteen years of twelve- and thirteen-hour workdays, Tim had a minor heart attack on the job, in 2011, the culmination of medical problemshigh blood pressure, high cholesterolthat had dogged him for years. A doctor recommended that he apply for disability and supplemental security income (S.S.I.), which he did, reluctantly. I liked working, he told me. I worked there until literally they had to call an ambulance and take me out. Thats when I had to give it up, and then she started, he said, referring to his wife.
Robin worked at fast-food places for a while, Burger King and K.F.C. and Wendys. The customers were often rude, she said, but those jobs paid the rent for the familys subsidized three-bedroom apartment. By 2016, her three oldest children had moved out, and Robin decided that she and Tim and the three younger kids should move to a two-bedroom place owned by the Highland Church of Christ in Paintsville, which would save them eighty dollars a month. Robin became a member of the church, though she worked too much to get to services often. The apartment, she told me, was a little small for two parents and three kids, but we got them a bunk bed set, and the oldest one had a twin-sized bed, so it worked out. She took a job as a cashier at Dollar General, which paid her seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. She worked her way up to assistant manager, organizing the shelves and handling customers and making sure the two cash registers didnt break down the way they used to. Her hourly pay went up to ten dollars and ten cents. Tims total fixed income usually amounted to eight hundred dollars a month.
Last year, the Jayneses moved to Indiana to be closer to Robins mothers side of the family, but they returned shortly after having a fight with her brother. The church rented their apartment back to them, at the same rate, but all the moving had used up the family savings, and they fell behind on rent. Robin returned to Dollar General and started paying off the debt, which had grown to a couple thousand dollars, little by little. Standing all day can be difficult for Robin, who has asthma and the beginnings of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. She usually worked between forty and fifty hours a week.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/waiting-for-the-help-that-was-promised-in-eastern-kentucky?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=the-new-yorker&utm_social-type=earned
McConnell should be losing in the polls, he is as evil as Trump.
bottomofthehill
(8,364 posts)blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)You would be surprised at the number of people there on disability. As far as jobs, there are very few and most pay minimum wage. This is a very poor area. You would also be surprised how many of them vote against their own interests.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)The suffering is immense and the support for Republicans, especially now, should be zero.
Ohiogal
(32,185 posts)Then you must not want to be successful. So obviously poor people like being poor..
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)They are a sick family.
roamer65
(36,748 posts)Ive seen too many in this type of predicament vote against their interests.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Especially considering this:
Kentucky
August 25, 2020: Gov. Andy Beshear (D) issued an order lifting the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. The order requires landlords to waive late fees accrued since the pandemic began and give tenants 30 days notice before beginning eviction proceedings.[66]
August 1, 2020: Eviction proceedings were allowed to resume due to a July 27 order by the Kentucky Supreme Court. Gov. Andy Beshear's (D) moratorium on evictions remained in place, however.[67]
July 27, 2020: The Kentucky Supreme Court issued an order allowing evictions proceedings to resume August 1. Gov. Andy Beshear's (D) moratorium on evictions remained in place, however.
April 14, 2020: The Kentucky Supreme Court, in their order extending restrictions on in-person proceedings, stated that eviction filings would not be accepted until 30 days after the expiration of Gov. Andy Beshear's (D) March 25 order. In his order, Gov. Beshear suspended evictions in the state for the duration of the state of emergency due to coronavirus.[68]
March 25, 2020: Gov. Andy Beshear (D) suspended evictions in the state for the duration of the state of emergency.[69]
Oct 22, 2020
(The Center Square) A little more than six weeks after it began accepting applications, a program aimed at helping people in Kentucky struggling to pay rent already has received more than 5,000 applications, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
He expects the Healthy at Home Eviction Relief Fund to use nearly all $15 million in federal CARES Act dollars set aside for the program. The state plans to close the website. Already, nearly 4,000 people have completed all the required documents for review.
We estimate we will utilize most of the CARES funds allocated to this program assisting Kentuckians who have submitted the 3,709 completed applications, Beshear said. Should other CARES Act or future stimulus funds become available, we may well begin taking applications again.
https://wkuherald.com/news/state/kentucky-closes-website-that-offers-rent-assistance-during-pandemic/article_7090100b-7668-5adc-b64a-62e6663a0d2c.html