How far will $1,400 go in Norwalk?
Locals share how they’re spending stimulus money
“A lot of us have been cut on hours and aren’t able to work that much. The fact that the government and everyone else is helping is wonderful.”
Amber Bobwich, Norwalk resident
NORWALK — The latest of three rounds of federal stimulus payments will barely cover monthly rent and expenses for retail worker Amber Bobwich, but the 22-year-old Norwalk resident is still grateful for any bit of help.
“I think it’s great what they’re doing,” she said of the government funds. “A lot of us have been cut on hours and aren’t able to work that much. The fact that the government and everyone else is helping is wonderful.”
Bobwich, like many Americans, has to decide where the $1,400 will go, and living in one of the country’s most expensive counties makes it harder to stretch those dollars.
When the coronavirus pandemic first
broke out, the Norwalk resident was out of work. The retail store in the SoNo Collection where she worked cut hours last March and left Bobwich without an income for three months. Bobwich is now back at the store parttime and making Instacart food delivery runs on the side. She said she’s looking forward to receiving the stimulus check to bolster her income.
Her East Norwalk apartment is $2,300 per month, a cost which she splits with one roommate. Rent and expenses, coupled with paying off car repairs from a minor accident last year, have Bobwich thankful for the extra funds. The check will be divided between rent and the car repair payment, she said.
“Obviously any amount of free money is amazing,” Bobwich said.
For fiscal year 2019, rent prices for the Stamford and Norwalk area were higher than 92 percent of Connecticut, with a monthly median of about $1,200 for a studio, $1,500 for a onebedroom apartment, $1,900 for a two-bedroom and $2,400 for a three-bedroom apartment, according to rentdata.org.
In November, the cost of residential electricity in Norwalk averaged 21.41 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is 60 percent higher than the national average, according to Utilities Local.
The latest round of stimulus checks was part of the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law on March 12. The first stimulus checks of $1,200 were delivered in April, with the second round of checks of $600 delivered in late December through early January, according to the IRS.
To many, the extra cash comes as a welcome necessity, but to others it’s simply a bonus.
While Bobwich is dependent on the funds, Norwalk resident Lori Celentano said the money is welcome but it is not a necessity.
Celentano, 60, works for Circle Car Center on West Avenue, which specializes in LGBTQ medical treatment. As an employee at a medical provider and frontline worker, Celentano never lost work and has already received the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I never lost my job, so to me it’s a bonus,” Celentano said. “To some people, they depend on it to pay things off. For me that would cover half my rent and or a credit card payment, but I am in a different situation as to where some people it’s a real benefit.”
For Celentano, the check will mainly be used to pay down credit card payments as her online shopping habits increased during the pandemic, she said. Celentano said she wishes there was a way for the government to sift through citizens, determine who lost work or needs the funds the most and reserve the money for those people, but understands that’s nearly impossible.
“Just about everyone else I work with who is in this situation should be thankful,” Celentano said. “It is more like a bonus compared to other people, those who lost their jobs, have children, issues with utilities and things like that.”
As of January, the unemployment rate in Connecticut was 8.1 percent, as opposed to 3.7 percent unemployment in January 2020, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor. The U.S. jobless rate in January was 6.3 percent and 3.5 percent a year ago, according to the state department of labor.
Norwalker Lis Murphy works in the entertainment industry, which has been at a virtual standstill since the pandemic began and said her finances have become dire. The $1,400 will be going toward either a credit card or mortgage payment, on which she has fallen behind, Murphy said.
“It’s just a drop in an ocean,” Murphy said. “I am $20,000 behind on my mortgage and all my credit cards are almost maxed out.”
Even prior to the pandemic, Murphy said she had been struggling to find work and was furloughed from a seasonal job when the pandemic began.
“It’s been unbearable,” Murphy said. “I was already not working a regular job. I had already gone through layoffs prior to the pandemic, so I was already in the hole. I have nothing else I can cut out. I’m living on borrowed time here.”
As a single, middle-aged woman with no dependents and a mortgage, Murphy said she is likely to slip through the cracks in terms of COVID relief and assistance. For Murphy, the $1,400 is needed, but barely scratches the surface.