Six Spaces Home Staging
Contact: Hongliang Zhang
Tel: 571-474-8885
Email: zhl19740122@gmail.com
You can apply for the ACP beginning December 31, 2021.
每月减免30美元网费 美政府”可负担连接计划”启动！
文章来源: https://www.cnbeta.com/
12/31/2021
从今天开始，符合条件的美国居民可以根据新的”可负担的连接计划”申请对他们的互联网账单的补贴。该计划于今天启动，资金来自11月通过的两党基础设施法案划拨的142亿美元。
美国家庭可以申请每月减免高达30美元的互联网服务账单。对于符合条件的部落土地上的家庭，每个月的折扣最高可达75美元。
该计划可以帮助数以百万计的人连接到互联网，这些人在家里无法使用互联网，特别是在那些历来面临上网障碍的社区。
根据联邦通信委员会（FCC）的一份报告，2017年，几乎三分之一生活在部落土地上的人在家里缺乏高速互联网。相比之下，只有1.5%的城市居民没有高速互联网接入。除了有限的基础设施外，成本往往是另一个障碍。在经济合作与发展组织（OECD）研究的35个国家中，美国的宽带成本位居第二。根据美国人口普查局的数据，美国印第安人和阿拉斯加原住民的贫困率是美国所有种族群体中最高的。
Dec 30, 2021
要申请”可负担的连接计划”补助的家庭首先必须能够上网。他们需要访问ACPBenefit.org来申请或打印出邮寄的申请。除此之外，符合要求的家庭也有资格从参与的供应商（包括T-Mobile、AT&T和Verizon）获得一次性100美元的笔记本电脑、平板电脑或台式电脑折扣。
“可负担的连接计划”基本上是对此前”临时紧急宽带福利计划”的长期替代，后者在COVID-19大流行期间开始帮助美国人。该计划为不居住在部落土地上的家庭提供了每月50美元的折扣，并将持续到2022年3月1日。
虽然对一些家庭的补助额度会降低，但联邦通信委员会总体上扩大了可以申请的条件。有资格参加WIC（妇女、婴儿和儿童的食品援助计划）的家庭现在也等同于有资格参加负担得起的连接计划。而收入达到或低于联邦贫困准则200%的家庭也有资格申请。
美国还有更多资金用于缩小数字鸿沟。新的1万亿美元基础设施法包括650亿美元用于促进宽带接入。根据拜登政府的一份概况介绍，超过3000万美国人居住的地方没有足够的宽带基础设施。
You can apply for the ACP beginning December 31, 2021.
Stay Connected
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) helps low-income households pay for broadband service and internet connected devices.
The Affordable Connectivity Program is administered by USAC with oversight from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program?
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program that replaces the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB Program) to help low-income households pay for internet service and connected devices.
If your household is eligible, you can receive:
- Up to a $30/month discount on your internet service
- Up to a $75/month discount if your household is on qualifying Tribal lands
- A one-time discount of up to $100 for a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer (with a co-payment of more than $10 but less than $50)
Only one monthly service discount and one device discount is allowed per household. To receive the connected device discount, consumers need to enroll in the ACP with a participating provider that offers connected devices (Note: not all internet company offer device discounts.) The internet company will provide the discount to the consumer.
More information: https://acpbenefit.org/
美国公务员赚多少? 福奇每年退休金居然有这么多钱?
文章来源: 纽约邮报
12/31/2021
公务员待遇的 ” 天花板 “？据美国《福布斯》杂志 29 日报道，美国国家过敏症和传染病研究所所长、总统首席医疗顾问福奇一旦退休，每年可得 35 万美元，将创造美国联邦政府雇员退休待遇的最高纪录。
报道称，已为美国政府效力 55 年的福奇连续两年成为 ” 全美收入最高的公务员 “：2019 年的收入为 41.7 万美元，2020 年涨到 43.4 万美元。他的薪资水平比美国总统、上将以及大约 430 万美国政府雇员都高。根据美国联邦人事管理局的标准，福奇退休金的计算方法是其 3 年最高收入的平均值，再乘以 80%。如果他在 2021 年和 2022 年获得的薪资与 2020 年持平，那么其退休金能达到 34.7 万美元。另外，他的 ” 超长工龄 ” 能带来额外的政府年金补贴，数额至少是每年 8344 美元。
《纽约邮报》称，福奇退休后仍有可能 ” 涨工资 “，这是因为他同时还享受 ” 生活成本津贴 ” ——如果美国出现通货膨胀、物价上涨，那么其收入会随之增加。不过，刚过 81 岁生日的福奇最近对媒体表示，美国疫情未得到控制前，他不会考虑退休。
Social Security cost-of-living increase will boost benefits 5.9% in 2022 as inflation spikes
By Paul Davidson | USA TODAY
10/13/2021
Now that’s more like it.
Older Americans scraping by on meager increases in their Social Security checks the past decade will reap a relative windfall next year.
The roughly 70 million people – retirees, disabled people and others – who rely on Social Security will receive a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment next year, the Social Security Administration said Wednesday. That’s the biggest bump since 1982.
The sharp increase is tied to a COVID-19-fueled spike in inflation after years of paltry consumer price increases.
For the average retiree who got a monthly check of $1,565 this year, the bump means an additional $92 a month in 2022, boosting the typical payment to $1,657.
“The guaranteed benefits provided by Social Security and the COLA increase are more crucial than ever as millions of Americans continue to face the health and economic impacts of the pandemic,” AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins said in a statement. “Social Security is the largest source of retirement income for most Americans and provides nearly all income (90% or more) for one in four seniors.”
SSA bases its cost-of-living adjustment on average annual increases in the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, or CPI-W, from July through September. The CPI-W largely reflects the broad CPI that the Labor Department releases each month.
On Wednesday, Labor said the CPI-W rose 5.9% annually in September following a 5.8% jump in August.
The COLA has averaged 1.4% the past 10 years – half the average over the prior decade – because of unusually low inflation, according to the Senior Citizen League, an advocacy group.
During this period, tens of millions of Social Security beneficiaries saw much or all of their cost-of-living increases effectively erased because of sharply climbing premiums for Medicare Part B, which are automatically deducted from many Social Security checks.
That shouldn’t be the case for most recipients this year because of the healthy COLA advance. The Part B premium is set to rise by $10 and prescription drug plan premiums are likely to increase an average of about 5%, says Mary Johnson, a policy analyst for the Senior Citizen League.
Johnson has long complained that the basket of goods that determines the CPI-W index doesn’t reflect the spending patterns of seniors who buy less gasoline, electronics and other products that make up a big portion of younger workers’ spending. Seniors instead spend more on food, health care costs and other items that have seen sharp price increases during the pandemic.
Johnson has called for the SSA to base its COLA on a proposed index for the elderly called CPI-E that would put more weight on health, food and other expenditures.
Since 2000, Social Security recipients have lost 32% of their buying power as COLAS grew by about half as much as the cost of goods and services typically purchased by retirees, according to the league.
With energy prices soaring this year, part of that dynamic is being reversed, with seniors, who don’t buy as much gasoline, poised to gain from the large COLA increase.
“They’re getting the benefit of that,” Johnson says.
At the same time, older Americans will still face sharply higher costs for some goods and services, including food, rent and prescription drugs. Seniors also could be socked by a 21% to 25% surge in home heating oil and natural gas costs this winter, according to the league and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“Retirees have been pummeled by the rising cost of health care, and the CPI-W does not accurately reflect how much retirees are spending on health care,” says Rhian Horgan, CEO of Silvur, maker of a retirement planning app.
Although the COLA bump could somewhat narrow Social Security recipients’ longstanding shortfall in buying power, “it’s not going to restore it,” to 2000 levels, Johnson says.
“While the high COLA is welcome, we have received hundreds of emails from retired and disabled Social Security recipients who say that the low COLAs in recent years have not kept pace with their rising costs,” Johnson says. “That has made it more difficult for many to cope with the rampant inflation of 2021.”
And, she says, the more generous payment will subject some recipients to new taxes or bump them into a higher tax bracket, offsetting some or all of the increase.
Also, many economists are forecasting high inflation again next year as supply chain bottlenecks continue to drive up product costs while labor shortages push employee wages, and related prices, higher.
“The COLA is paying for inflation from last year,” Johnson says. “Not,” she adds, “for future years.”
北美法律公益讲座安排
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Zoom：6045004698，密码：请私信或群里@我
Federal Communications Commission
Emergency Broadband Benefit
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is an FCC program to help families and households struggling to afford internet service during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new benefit will connect eligible households to jobs, critical healthcare services, virtual classrooms, and so much more.
About the Emergency Broadband Benefit
The Emergency Broadband Benefit will provide a discount of up to $50 per month towards broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price.
The Emergency Broadband Benefit is limited to one monthly service discount and one device discount per household.
Who Is Eligible for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program?
A household is eligible if a member of the household meets one of the criteria below:
- Has an income that is at or below 135% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines or participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, or Lifeline;
- Approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision in the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year;
- Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year;
- Experienced a substantial loss of income due to job loss or furlough since February 29, 2020 and the household had a total income in 2020 at or below $99,000 for single filers and $198,000 for joint filers; or
- Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income or COVID-19 program.
How to Apply
The online application for the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program is experiencing high demand. We appreciate your patience as we actively work to resolve any connectivity issues users may encounter.
Apply Now
There are three ways for eligible households to apply:
- Contact your preferred participating broadband provider directly to learn about their application process.
- Go to GetEmergencyBroadband.org to apply online and to find participating providers near you.
- Call 833-511-0311 for a mail-in application, and return it along with copies of documents showing proof of eligibility to:
Emergency Broadband Support Center
P.O. Box 7081
London, KY 40742
After receiving an eligibility determination, households can contact their preferred service provider to select an Emergency Broadband Benefit eligible service plan.
Get More Consumer Information
Check out the Broadband Benefit Consumer FAQ for more information about the benefit.
Which Broadband Providers Are Participating in the Emergency Broadband Benefit?
Various broadband providers, including those offering landline and wireless broadband, are participating in the Emergency Broadband Benefit. Find broadband service providers offering the Emergency Broadband Benefit in your state or territory.
Broadband providers can find more information about how to participate here.
Source: https://www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit
Evictions During COVID-19: Landlords’ Rights and Options When Tenants Can’t Pay Rent
Tips, resources, and advice for landlords whose tenants aren’t able to pay the rent due to the coronavirus outbreak.
By Ann O’Connell, Attorney
11/01/2020
Many renters are facing financial challenges resulting from coronavirus-related business shut-downs, furloughs, layoffs, and stay-at-home orders. The longer this crisis goes on, the more likely it is that many will not be able to pay their rent. When renters default on rent, landlords suffer, and might not be able to meet their own financial obligations, such as making the mortgage payments on the rental property.
Here are some suggestions about how landlords can mitigate the financial impact of tenant defaults during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Terminations and Evictions
Under normal circumstances, when tenants don’t pay rent, landlords have the option of terminating the tenancy (by serving the tenant with either a pay rent or quit notice or an unconditional quit notice, depending on the applicable laws). When tenants don’t pay the rent or move out by the deadline given in the notice, landlords can then file an eviction lawsuit to have the tenants physically removed from the rental.
However, health and safety concerns due to COVID-19 have led many states, cities, counties, and courts to place moratoriums on evictions. The scope of these temporary bans on evictions varies greatly: some have banned any and all action relating to evictions, while others simply postpone hearings on evictions until the court can arrange a hearing via telephone or video.
If you are a landlord in an area with an eviction moratorium, you might still be able to file eviction papers with the court, but your case might not be heard for a while. However, even if there are no bans in place, evicting tenants who can’t pay the rent due to the coronavirus crisis probably shouldn’t be your first recourse. Aside from optics (you don’t want to get a reputation as the ruthless landlord who booted tenants out of their home in the middle of a stay-at-home order), if you remove tenants right now, you’re going to be faced with having to disinfect the rental, advertise the rental, screen new prospective tenants (of which there might be very few), sign a new lease or rental agreement, and get the new tenants moved in—all while taking measures to abide by emergency guidelines and health and safety measures.
Consider the following options instead.
Evaluate Your Personal Financial Situation
Take a moment to evaluate your own finances. As dire as it sounds, it might be time to take stock of what could happen in a worst-case scenario. Most landlords have likely considered the situation where tenants don’t pay rent, as this can happen at any time. But there’s no denying that this is a different situation—what will happen if your tenants can’t pay for a long time, and your options for finding new (paying) tenants are slim?
Your assessment of how this worst-case scenario will affect your ability to pay your mortgage (if any) and your personal bills will inform how you respond when your tenants can’t pay their rent.
- If your financial situation looks grim: If your ability to pay the mortgage on your rental property hinges on month-to-month rental income, you should take actions to prevent your own default This includes options discussed below, such as contacting your lender and proactively seeking arrangements with tenants that allow them to make at least partial payments.
- If you have a few months’ reserves: If your personal reserves or financial position won’t feel too much of a pinch if tenants aren’t able to pay rent for a while, you still might have to make some compromises to retain good tenants. If you have tenants who have previously been reliable and are simply finding it hard to make ends meet currently, do what you can to take some pressure off them—see the discussion below about working out a temporary solution with tenants.
Try to Work Out a Temporary Solution With Tenants
Depending on how desperately you need to receive income from your rental, you have a few options for working with tenants who aren’t able to pay rent because of COVID-19. Consider the following possible arrangements.
- Forgive rent. If your situation allows for it, you could waive rent for a month, with an agreement to revisit the payment arrangement on a certain date. A landlord in Bakersfield recently did this for his tenants.
- Postpone rent. You could offer to postpone rent payments for a month, with an agreement that it will be repaid. Your repayment arrangement could state that the rent owed could be spread out over time, paid all at once, or paid when (if) a stimulus check
- Reduce rent. If you can, consider dropping the rent temporarily to a level that enables you to meet your obligations but forgoes profit for the time being. For example, if you normally collect $1200 a month, but your mortgage is $900 a month, you could temporarily drop rent to $900 to make sure you at least don’t get in trouble with your lender.
Before deciding to make any of these adjustments, try talking to your tenants. Ask them straight out what they think they can make work. If you’re able to accommodate their suggestions, chances are higher that they will do everything they can to hold up their end of the bargain. Be sure to put any agreements in writing, preferably as an addendum to your current lease or rental agreement that includes all details of the arrangement.
Look for Outside Assistance
Even if you think you can float a month or two without rental income, you still might want to consider taking some measures now to protect your position in the event that the coronavirus crisis lasts longer than your cushion can handle. If you’re already feeling the pinch, take these actions immediately.
Attend to Your Mortgage
At this point in the COVID-19 crisis, most private lenders are willing to work with borrowers to ensure that they don’t lose their homes. Call your lender directly and ask what steps it is taking to assist borrowers who can’t meet their mortgage obligations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- If your loan is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you might be able to delay making payments for a certain period of time without incurring late fees or getting hit with a credit score penalty.
- Look into your options under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
- The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has put in place a foreclosure moratorium for single family homeowners with FHA-insured mortgages.
- Visit your state’s website to find out if the state is offering assistance to homeowners. For example, New York has announced a delay of mortgage payments for 90 days. Many other states are postponing any foreclosure actions indefinitely. Find your state’s website at State and Government on the Net.
Look Into Property Tax Breaks
Some states and counties are extending the deadline for paying property taxes, or cancelling late fees and interest. Check your county’s tax assessor’s website to see if this is an option where your property is located.
Seek a Loan
Consider seeking a loan from family, friends, or private lenders. The U.S. Small Business Administration might be another source of assistance—its disaster loan assistance web page has a wealth of information. You can also contact your regular bank or credit union and inquire about what assistance it can offer.
Research Options for Your Renters
Some areas are beginning to offer rent vouchers or emergency funds to renters in need. For example, the Pennsylvania Apartment Association is collecting donations for funds to give to renters who can’t pay rent. Currently, renters’ needs are getting a lot more attention in the press than landlords’ needs, and there are already a lot more resources being made available for renters. It’s in your best interest to research these options and bring them to your renters’ attention—do what you can to help your tenants pay you.
Landlords are getting squeezed between tenants and lenders
By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to sympathetic figures, landlords aren’t exactly at the top of the list. But they, too, have fallen on hard times, demonstrating how the coronavirus outbreak spares almost no one.
Take Shad Elia, who owns 24 single-family apartment units in the Boston area. He says government stimulus benefits allowed his hard-hit tenants to continue to pay the rent. But now that the aid has expired, with Congress unlikely to pass a new package before Election Day, they are falling behind.
Heading into a New England winter, Elia is worried about such expenses as heat and snowplowing in addition to the regular year-round costs, like fixing appliances and leaky faucets.
Elia wonders how much longer his lenders will cut him slack.
“We still have a mortgage. We still have expenses on these properties,” he said. “But there comes a point where we will exhaust whatever reserves we have. At some point, we will fall behind on our payments. They can’t expect landlords to provide subsidized housing.”
The stakes are particularly high for small landlords, whether they own commercial properties, such as storefronts, or residential properties such as apartments. Many are borrowing money from relatives or dipping into their personal savings to meet their mortgage payments.
The big residential and commercial landlords have more options. For instance, the nation’s biggest mall owner, Simon Property Group, is in talks to buy J.C. Penney, a move that would prevent the department store chain from going under and causing Simon to lose one of its biggest tenants. At the same time, Simon is suing the Gap for $107 million in back rent.
Michael Hamilton, a Los Angeles-based real estate partner at the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, said he expects to see more retail and other commercial landlords going to court to collect back rent as they get squeezed between lenders and tenants.
Residential landlords are also fighting back against a Trump administration eviction moratorium that protects certain tenants through the end of 2020. At least 26 lawsuits have been filed by property owners around the country in places such as Tennessee, Georgia and Ohio, many of them claiming the moratorium unfairly strains landlords’ finances and violates their rights.
Apartment dwellers and other residential tenants in the U.S. owe roughly $25 billion in back rent, and that will reach nearly $70 billion by year’s end, according to an estimate in August by Moody’s Analytics.
An estimated 30 million to 40 million people in the U.S. could be at risk of eviction in the next several months, according to an August report by the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit organization.
Jessica Elizabeth Michelle, 37, a single mother with a 7-month-old baby, represents a growing number of renters who are afraid of being homeless once the moratorium on evictions ends.
The San Francisco resident saw her income of $6,000 a month as an event planner evaporate when COVID-19 hit. Supplemental aid from the federal government and the city helped her pay her monthly rent of $2,400 through September. But all that has dried up, except for the unemployment checks that total less than $2,000 a month.
For her October rent, she handed $1,000 to her landlord. She said her landlord has been supportive but has made it clear he has bills to pay, too.
“I never had an issue of paying rent up until now. I cry all night long. It’s terrifying,” Michelle said. “I don’t know what to do. My career was ripped out from under me. It’s gotten to the point of where it’s like, ‘Am I going to be homeless?’ I have no idea.’”
Some landlords are trying to work with their commercial or residential tenants, giving them a break on the rent or more flexible lease terms. But the crisis is costing them.
Analytics firm Trepp, which tracks a type of real estate loan taken out by owners of commercial properties such as offices, apartments, hotels and shopping centers, found that hotels have a nearly 23% rate of delinquency, or 30 days overdue, on their loans, while the retail industry has a 14.9% delinquency rate as of August.
The apartment rental market has so far navigated the crisis well, with a delinquency rate of 3%, according to Trepp. That’s in part because of the eviction moratorium, along with extra unemployment benefits from Washington that have since expired.
“There are bad actors, but the majority of landlords are struggling and are trying to work with a bad situation,” said Andreanecia M. Morris, executive director of HousingNOLA, a public-private partnership that pushes for more affordable housing in the New Orleans area.
Morris, who works with both landlords and tenants, said that government money wasn’t adequate to help tenants pay their rent, particularly in expensive cities. She is calling for comprehensive rental assistance.
She fears that residential landlords will see their properties foreclosed on next year, and the holdings will be bought by big corporations, which are not as invested in the neighborhoods.
Gary Zaremba, who owns and and manages 350 apartment units spread out over 100 buildings in Dayton, Ohio, said he has been working with struggling tenants — many of them hourly workers in restaurants and stores — and directs them to social service agencies for additional help.
But he is nervous about what’s next, especially with winter approaching and the prospect of restaurants shutting down and putting his tenants out of work. He has a small mortgage on the buildings he owns but still has to pay property taxes and fix things like broken windows or leaky plumbing.
“As a landlord, I have to navigate a global pandemic on my own,” Zaremba said, “and it’s confusing.”
