Jessica Arena spoke to three people without a fixed income who are feeling the strain of COVID-19.

Government aid can’t come soon enough for the self-employed and small business owners whose work is drying up as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

One of them is Jason (not his real name), a real estate agent who works on a freelance basis. He says a big question mark hangs over his income.

“The interest is there but there are a lot of obstacles to getting the job done,” he said.

“We are constantly out meeting people and this is the very thing we have been advised not to do. People are also afraid to come out and homeowners are hesitant to let strangers into their property, which you can’t blame them for either.

“But even for our own safety, it’s risky to keep going out and meeting different people every day.”

His biggest worry is that the crisis may extend into the summer months, cutting into the season when rental business is best.

He admits he can only afford “a few more weeks” on his present income.

“All of my income is what I get from closing. If property isn’t being rented, then I don’t get paid.

It would be helpful to find a way to cover basics, like food, but my biggest worry is my mortgage

“It would be helpful to find a way to cover basics, like food, but my biggest worry is my mortgage. I’ve never missed a payment and I don’t want to get into trouble with my bank.”

For Elisa Calleja, who works in digital marketing and web design, work has declined by about 25 per cent so far.

“Some of my clients were from hard-hit industries like tourism and food and beverage, and these have temporarily stopped my services,” she said.

Long-term projects from other sectors will see her through for the time being but “by the beginning of May, I’ll probably be worse off if the situation doesn’t improve”.

Diane Portelli, who runs the dance company Moveo, said the creative industry, particularly in performance, was instantly stalled as events got called off overnight.

The company has had 13 planned performances cancelled or postponed since the start of the coronavirus crisis. 

“It’s really heartbreaking, not just on a financial level, to see all that hard work go down the drain,” she said.

“Our biggest problem is the unknown. We don’t know when it’s going to be over so we can’t bank on the performances we had planned.

“Also, because we’ve been out of the studio for so long, we’re out of shape. If I had to get a call that asked me to perform next week, I don’t know if we’ll be able to deliver a performance of a certain standard.”

Portelli, who employs seven other dancers, says that the company is focusing on its administrative work for the time being.

“Just because a performance has been cancelled, it doesn’t mean we haven’t spent the past 18 months working to create it. That’s still lost income for us.”

The measures announced by the government will be invaluable to keep her dancers afloat, she said, but it would also help if theatres showed “a little more understanding of the situation”.

“We’re in limbo. No one is giving us answers and that’s the scariest thing. We don’t know how many thousands we’re going to lose just yet.”

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