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Tens of thousands of residents of New York City public housing, many of whom lost their jobs after the city locked down two years ago, have fallen behind on their rent, raising fears of a coming rise in evictions, the New York Times reported. The problem has been compounded because public housing tenants have so far been shut out of a depleted pandemic rent relief program. The New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, which runs the nation’s largest public housing system, is owed more than $364 million of the rent it charged in 2021, the largest level of unpaid rent ever, the agency said. More than 68,000 households, roughly 42 percent of all of those in public housing, had overdue rent as of November 2021, according to the agency. The bleak picture has left many residents fearful that they may eventually lose their homes, deepening the city’s housing crisis. The fear is also fueled by NYCHA’s past practices. Between 2016 and 2018, more than 40,000 evictions cases were filed against NYCHA tenants annually, according to data from the New York State Office of Court Administration collected by the Housing Data Coalition and the Right to Counsel Coalition. The cases stemmed from missed rent payments as well as issues like property damage. NYCHA sent an email to residents last month saying that it planned to “restart nonpayment eviction proceedings” after the state’s eviction moratorium expired in mid-January.

Hospitals and lawmakers are pressing the Biden administration to review federal pandemic-relief programs that they say have distorted pay rates for travel nurses, the Wall Street Journal reported. Many nurses are making twice what they did before the pandemic or more on assignments at hospitals paying top dollar to fill big holes in their workforces. Some hospitals are using federal COVID-19 relief funds to cover part of the difference between rates for travel nurses and staff salaries. Health-industry trade groups and some members of Congress say staffing agencies matching workers with hospitals are capitalizing on a tight labor market, as many nurses have left during the pandemic, often because of burnout and fatigue. Staffing firms say the higher pay rates are simply a matter of supply and demand. “It’s kind of like saying real-estate agents set the price. The buyers and sellers participating in the market do,” said Alan Braynin, president and chief executive officer at Aya Healthcare, the largest healthcare staffing agency in the U.S. Almost 200 House lawmakers led by Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) on Jan. 25 asked the White House to investigate the run-up in wages that staffing agencies pay contract nurses. Trade groups the American Hospital Association, the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living wrote recently to the White House that staffing firms are exploiting the pandemic by charging exorbitant prices.

U.S. small business confidence fell to an 11-month low in January amid persistent worker shortages and higher prices for materials, a survey showed today, Reuters reported. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said that its Small Business Optimism Index dropped 1.8 points to 97.1 last month, the lowest reading since February 2021. Scarce workers and rising labor costs remain the main areas of worry for businesses. Snarled supply chains as the global economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by massive stimulus from governments, have unleashed inflation. The pandemic, now in its third year, has also disrupted labor supply, making it difficult for goods to move from factories to consumers. There were a near record 10.9 million job openings at the end of December. The NFIB survey showed half of the 1,504 small businesses who participated in the poll reporting raising compensation. That was the highest reading in 48 years and was up 2 points from December. That corroborates to a surge in measures of wage growth tracked by the government. About 27% of small businesses said they planned to increase compensation in the next three months, down 5 points from December, but still historically high. Eleven percent said labor costs were their top business problem, down 2 points from December's 48-year record high reading. About 23% complained about labor quality.

Almost a year has passed since the government approved the aid as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Biden signed in March, but the minority farmers the money was intended to help have been shut out from receiving the relief as it remains tied up in court battles, The Hill reported. John Boyd Jr., a civil rights advocate and fourth-generation farmer, has been applying pressure to lawmakers and the administration to get the $4 billion in stalled aid for socially disadvantaged farmers released. A Virginia-based farmer and president of the thousands-strong National Black Farmers Association, he told The Hill in a recent interview he’s been filing amicus briefs in different courts across the country. “It's a do-or-die for a guy who owes a couple hundred thousand dollars to the government,” said Boyd, who added he’s also been reaching out to members who helped draft the legislation for assistance in tackling the issue. The White House did not return a request for comment from The Hill, while a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a statement that it "continues to work closely with the Department of Justice to vigorously defend" the funding allocation.

Total, consumer and business filings continued their decline in January 2022 compared to last year, according to data provided by Epiq. Total filings in January 2022 were 26,195, representing a 19 percent decrease from the January 2021 filing total of 32,312. Consumer filings decreased 18 percent, falling to 24,696 in January 2022 from 30,263 in January 2021. The 1,499 commercial filings in January 2022 were 27 percent fewer than the 2,049 registered in January 2021. Commercial chapter 11 filings in January 2022 totaled 223, a 53 percent drop from the 479 commercial chapter 11 filings in January 2021. “Though filings continue to decrease, consumers and businesses are faced with less government relief, fewer lender deferments, rising inflation, worker shortages and supply chain challenges,” said ABI Executive Director Amy Quackenboss. “With mounting economic uncertainties amid the ongoing pandemic, congressional consideration of extending or permanently making the expanded eligibility limit of small businesses electing to file for subchapter V under chapter 11 will provide a proven path for small businesses to successfully restructure, reduce liquidations and save jobs.” Total filings for January decreased 6 percent from the 27,980 total filings in December 2021. Total noncommercial filings for January also decreased 6 percent from the December 2021 noncommercial filing total of 26,304. January’s commercial filing total represented an 11 percent decrease from the December 2021 commercial filing total of 2,197. Commercial chapter 11 filings in January 2022 represented a 28 percent decrease from the 310 filings recorded in December 2021. Read more. 

To examine potential restructuring trends that may surface in 2022, ABI and PwC are hosting a special free abiLIVE webinar tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. ET. The panelists, who include Rachel Albanese of DLA Piper, Lorie Beers of Cowen and Company, Steven Fleming of PwC US and David Tyburski of PwC US, will also explore industries to watch and will hold a live Q&A session with the audience. ABI Editor-at-Large Bill Rochelle will moderate the session. To enjoy complimentary registration, please click here.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the U.S. gained 467,000 jobs in January despite fears the economy lost jobs amid the omicron-driven surge of COVID-19 cases, The Hill reported. While the unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4 percent, January job growth far exceeded the expectations of many economists, who feared the U.S. would lose jobs last month for the first time since December 2020. Millions of Americans missed work in January after they or a loved one fell ill with COVID-19. The unprecedented number of Americans out sick and several alarming declines in private sector economic activity bred fears of a miserable January jobs report. Six million Americans said they were unable to work in January because their employer lost business due to the pandemic, according to the Labor Department, almost double December’s total of 3.1 million. But the labor market held strong through the peak of the omicron surge in mid-January with widespread jobs gains across industries. The Labor Department also revised the December employment gain up from an initially reported 199,000 to 510,000 and November’s job gain from 249,000 to 647,000 — painting a much stronger picture of the labor market than expected.

Ocean carriers have been imposing more and larger such fees for boxes that have been sitting for longer periods, sometimes weeks at a time, in logjams that have snarled supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. lawmakers and regulators are taking a hard look at the charges and other shipping practices that critics say have sharply raised costs for American importers and hamstrung the ability of exporters to reach overseas markets. New measures in Congress and actions by the U.S. maritime regulator, the Federal Maritime Commission, target a container shipping sector dominated by foreign-based carriers that made profits last year estimated by London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. at about $150 billion. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, and John Thune, a Republican, introduced legislation Thursday to change the 24-year-old Ocean Shipping Reform Act. The measure would draw new restrictions around how carriers may coordinate operations in alliances and would prohibit shipping lines from “unreasonably” declining exports. It would also limit the ability of carriers to impose added fees on container handling.