When the coronavirus pandemic brought nearly every aspect of the modern world to a halt in early 2020, many Michiganders were able to maneuver through the economic difficulties that followed thanks to a variety of state and federal relief programs. However, as detailed in a new report “ALICE in the Crosscurrents: COVID and Financial Hardship in Michigan” released Wednesday from the Michigan Association of United Ways and its research partner, United for ALICE, those relief efforts provided only temporary assistance for many Michigan residents, with 1.6 million households identified as struggling to afford basic needs in 2021.