Will the Homeless get a Stimulus Check?

Last week, the US Senate passed HR 748, the Cares Act, that will provide assistance for most Americans to the tune of $2.2 Trillion. As we have all heard, the money will go to aid businesses, workers, health care systems, and hospitals overwhelmed by the Carnivorous pandemic. 

According to the measure, the aid package would provide a direct cash payment of $1,200 to individuals and households earning less than $75k per year gross income. Couples with  a combined gross income under $150k would be eligible for $2,400. I'm not even going to talk about people earning more money than $200k because I don't really care about them, except to mention that the aid numbers increase by $500.00 per child for families regardless of income. 

But What about the Homeless? 
I recently had a conversation with a family member about homeless persons and the stimulus package. He was convinced that any monies that people in those and similar conditions would receive would probably be just "party time" money that would most likely be spent on doing what they've already been doing: spending it on drugs and alcohol. Because he's family, and he is intelligent, I understood that there was absolutely no judgement in his comment, but rather was an objective observation based upon the opinions of  many republicans in congress who don't think the aid package should focus upon individuals as opposed to corporate giants, big business, and "tax paying" citizens. 

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who has a net worth of $1.2 million, thought the stimulus package was "too generous" to the unemployed, stating that the package would incentivise the unemployed to lay themselves off rather than go to work. Graham told reporters that the "bill pays you more not to work than if you were working" noting that the stimulus bill would provide the equivalent of $24.00 per hour while the state of SC only pays $7.25 per hour for minimum wage. If Senator Graham feels that way about the working poor in his state, I can only assume his views of what the homeless deserve are much worse. 

If you are homeless, and don't have a known legal address it will be very difficult to get a stimulus check via the method the US Treasury is using to distribute the aid. The money is going to be distributed by the US Treasury Department to persons who:

• Filed a 2018 or 2019 income tax return - payment will be sent to person's last know address.
• Are employed - payment will come through your current employer's direct deposit system
• Have a social security number

Unfortunately, many of the homeless do not have an address where they can receive mail. When I was homeless, I remember having a couple of places where I received mail. One address was my son's mother's address because she was kind enough to to allow me to stay there for several months. Another place I received mail was a place called the Compass Center in downtown Seattle. Any homeless person can go there and sign up to get their mail delivered there. You must have a Washington State id card, however to take advantage of that service. 

The Compass Center is run by the Compass Housing Alliance, which is a low-income housing non-profit. The address to the compass Center is: 77 S. Washington St. Seattle, WA 98104. The phone number is 206.474.1000. 

In Seattle, there are several places where you can get a voucher to get an id card. The one place I know of is called the Solanus Casey Center located at 804 9th Avenue Seattle, WA 98104.