Region’s low-income seniors drive glut of unclaimed stimulus checks

The checks, worth at least $300, approved by Congress to counteract an economic downturn by increasing consumer spending, offer an especially crucial boost to low-income residents trying to navigate a higher cost of living, officials said.

But the same reason why the poorest populations need the money appears to be the same reason they haven’t collected it: Many residents, especially seniors whose only income is a Social Security check, didn’t earn enough to file a 2007 tax return, a prerequisite for receiving the stimulus check.

“Three hundred dollars is a lot of money to a person trying to make ends meet, to handle rising fuel costs, rising food bills,” said Michael Cassidy, executive director of the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a Richmond think tank. “So the outreach is really critical here, especially if the folks are homebound.”

The checks still can be claimed by filing a tax return, though the Oct. 15 deadline is swiftly approaching and presents a massive challenge for governments and community groups seeking to ensure everyone who is eligible for a payment receives one.

In Maryland, which accounts for 97,000 of the uncollected checks, Comptroller Peter Franchot is preparing to tour Baltimore, Frederick, the Eastern Shore and suburban Washington in coming months to help residents to file, said spokesman Joe Shapiro.

Across Virginia, where 124,000 of checks remains uncollected, local community groups are working to get the word out, Cassidy said.

The District has about 15,069 residents yet to file.

The highest concentrations of unclaimed payments are in populous urban centers in Maryland and Virginia, and in the eastern portions of the District, according to figures released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Fairfax County, which has more than 1 million residents, has 8,251 outstanding payments worth $2.5 million.

wflook@dcexaminer.com