On March 10, 2021, Congress passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that provides direct payments and extended unemployment benefits to struggling Americans in the wake of the pandemic. The bill provides funds to struggling homeowners, housing providers and small businesses including REALTORS®.
The law supplies direct payments of $1,400 to most Americans and mortgage and rental assistance.
Specifically, the law contains:
Unemployment Benefits and Direct Payments
• Provide $1,400 stimulus checks to most Americans, phased out for higher earners. Individuals making up to $75,000 and married couples filing jointly making up to $150,000 will receive the full $1,400 per person, which will be phased out for higher incomes up to $80,000 for individuals and $160,000 for married couples filing jointly.
• Extend the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program and increased Pandemic Unemployment Compensation of $300 weekly through Sept. 6, 2021.
• Expand the child tax credit to $3,600 for each child under age 6 and $3,000 for each child age 6-18. Currently, qualifying families can receive a credit of up to $2,000 per child under age 17.
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
• Provide an additional $7 billion for forgivable PPP loans.
• Provide $15 billion for the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which provides long-term, low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration. Severely impacted small businesses with 10 or fewer employees will be given priority for some of the money.
Housing and Rental Assistance
• Provide $21.55 billion to states and local governments for rental assistance on top of the $25 billion allocated in December.
• Provide $10 billion for mortgage assistance.
For more information on these and other financial relief programs, see the REALTOR® Relief page on C.A.R.’s coronavirus microsite.
