In addition to exposing our extreme inequality, the pandemic has also revealed our interconnectedness: we are only as safe as the least protected among us. In a diversifying country, dismantling structural racism and ensuring economic security for all is the right thing to do and the necessary thing to do.

We need sustained and race-conscious policies and investments to stabilize people during the crisis and bridge to a more equitable future. To build an equitable economy, policymakers must: 

• Ensure economic security during the crisis.
• Use stimulus funds to build the next economy.
• Forge a new social contract that enables shared prosperity. 

During the last recession, corporations received massive bailouts while continuing with risky practices that undermined the strength of the economy, making us unprepared for the current shock from COVID-19. Congress has started down this path once again, creating a half trillion-dollar fund to bail out corporations while millions of people are out of work. 

While initial legislative survival packages included modest stimulus checks and unemployment benefits to individuals, economists and struggling people alike have pointed out the immediate need to get more cash into people’s hands to stave off the crisis. Unless we put people first, the relief and recovery packages coming from Congress will only further concentrate wealth at the top and deepen inequities. In order to put people first, policymakers must: 

• Support essential frontline workers.
• Guarantee incomes.
• Freeze costs and protect people from losses.
• Prioritize people over corporations.

As the current public health and economic crisis continues to impact people around the world, we now know that across the United States, people of color are bearing the brunt of the effects of COVID-19.  Ensuring all people live in a society where they can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential requires recognizing that the path to getting there is different for different groups. Intentional investments in the 100 million economically insecure people in the United States, particularly for those who are people of color, will have benefits that cascade out, improving the lives of all struggling people as well as regional economies and the nation as a whole. We cannot simply tinker around the edges of systems that were never intended to serve all people. In order to center racial equity, policymakers must: 

• Collect and use disaggregated data.
• Plan for the most vulnerable.
• Implement race-conscious approaches to counter persistent racial inequities.

Rent cancellation matches the scope of the economic catastrophe ordinary households face. It is needed to ensure people can stay in their homes after eviction moratoriums end. Universal rent cancellation immediately and effectively reaches a huge swath of people, including those especially at risk of homelessness: people who are informally employed; lack a bank account or permanent address; or are undocumented. Download this policy summary of what should go into policy to cancel rents and mortgages and reclaim our homes.

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, a broad moratorium on all evictions, foreclosures, and sweeps of homeless encampments is needed to protect public health. Moratoriums preserve access to shelter and ensure people are not displaced, slowing infections. No one should lose their home in these life-threatening conditions. Download this two-page policy summary of what should go into a strong moratorium on all evictions, foreclosures, and sweeps.