【Secretive Boarding House】

It's tough out there for gig workers. Those who are Secretive Boarding Houseworking during the coronavirus pandemic are struggling to get proper protection from companies like Instacart, and those who aren't are struggling to pay the bills. Even those who are still working may not be able to make ends meet due to a drop in demand for services such as Uber and Lyft rides.

Though half of U.S. states are offering unemployment benefits to gig workers and the self-employed through the federal stimulus package, financial assistance might not be arriving fast enough (or the application process may be a mess). Many states have yet to implement the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program as they still have to set up their application and payment systems, according to CNBC.

A new cash transfer fund from the Workers Lab, an organization that finances innovations meant to increase the power of workers, was built to help out.

The fund, dubbed the Workers Fund, was launched in March in direct response to the precarity faced by gig workers and low-earning contract workers in light of the spread of the coronavirus. Thus far, the coronavirus fund has given around $300,000 to nearly 500 gig workers.

Gig workers can learn more about the program through the Steady app, a gig work app partnering with the Workers Fund for the cash transfer, Adrian Haro, interim CEO of the Workers Fund, told Mashable over the phone. Then, gig workers in need of emergency funds can submit a claim through the app explaining the impact of the coronavirus on their livelihood. (Only those on the app are eligible for the fund.)

Funds are then distributed through a direct deposit feature within the app, Haro noted. The set-up was chosen for its efficiency, he points out, because gig workers in need of cash right now likely need it quickly.

In addition to speed, a guiding premise behind the fund lies on trust, Haro explained. Gig workers who submit a claim are eligible for a one-time cash transfer of up to $1,000, but it's intended that they only request what they need to cover emergency expenses spurred by the coronavirus and its economic impact. (Most requests, Haro noted, have averaged just over $800.)

Because the funds are being raised exclusively through donations (with 100 percent of each donation being given directly to workers), Haro explained that how much the Workers Lab is able to give is dependent on how much it's able to raise.

Sarah Felton is a gig worker who received a cash transfer through the program. She told Mashable via phone that she requested $900, which was what she needed to pay rent for the month of April.

Right before the coronavirus started majorly uprooting life in America, Felton was meant to transition to a new job at a digital marketing company, but the company then instituted a temporary hiring freeze. To cover immediate expenses, she turned to the gig work app Steady, which was were she learned about the cash transfer program.

Felton explained she primarily needed the cash for immediate expenses, since she'll be able to use money received from unemployment to pay for May's rent, and it was the cash that kept her from being potentially without housing in the meantime.

The most important part of a program like this for gig workers is its timeliness, since gig workers with low incomes or otherwise dried up income amid the coronavirus are currently cash-strapped, Dr. Ioana Marinescu, an associate professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania who studies universal basic income, explained to Mashable via phone.

The Workers Fund was able to roll out the fund as quickly as it did because of a similar, previously established program. In 2019, the Workers Fund implemented an experiment in which 350 lower-income gig workers were provided emergency cash grants of up to $1,000.

According to early findings from that program, the most common expenses funded by the cash grant were related to housing, such as rent or utilities, followed by automobile repairs, which some gig workers, such as Uber or Lyft drivers, are dependent on for income.

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, talks of more routine direct cash transfers, including a universal basic income, have taken off, both in the U.S. and around the world.

Recently, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the prospect of a guaranteed income was perhaps now "worthy of attention."

"We are in an emergency moment right now," Haro said. "We hope that there is a national recognition about what's actually going on here amongst people in power, and that they recognize there's a value not only in an emergency for things like emergency cash."