Report: Pandemic’s Impact on Low- to Moderate-Income Communities

Posted by Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia on September 15, 2020

As COVID-19 continues to have profound effects on people’s lives, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, in partnership with the 11 other Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, is surveying representatives of nonprofits, financial institutions, government agencies, and other community organizations to determine the pandemic’s impact on low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities.

• Large majorities of respondents reported significant disruption to local economic conditions and said that they expect recovery to be difficult, with respondents from Pennsylvania (61 percent) varying slightly compared with those from New Jersey (72 percent), Delaware (72 percent), and national respondents (64 percent).
• Over one-quarter of national respondents (27 percent) indicated their entities could operate for less than six months in the current environment before exhibiting financial distress. This metric is more pronounced for respondents from Pennsylvania (37 percent), New Jersey (41 percent), and Delaware (56 percent).
• A plurality of respondents in Pennsylvania (47 percent) said it will take over 12 months for their LMI communities to return to the conditions they were experiencing before COVID-19’s disruption, compared with majorities of respondents in the nation (56 percent), New Jersey (74 percent), and Delaware (78 percent).

Read the report: https://www.frbatlanta.org/community-development/publications/national-covid-19-survey.aspx

Year-round, the Philadelphia Fed and the the Federal Reserve System work to foster economically resilient communities. Gathering actionable information is especially important during this unprecedented time. We’ll continue to seek and share ongoing perspectives from Main Street.