Guaranteed basic income programs are spreading across the United States

Guaranteed basic income programs face funding and legal challenges despite limited success in some regions of the country.

More than 100 of the pilot programs have been launched since 2018, and some have been hailed as popular plans for providing low-income participants with up to $1,000 a month. But along with some success, there have been challenges, as some cities implementing GBI pilots have seen funds dissipate and other obstacles threaten the programs.

Former Mayor of Stockton, California, Michael D. Tubbs, is president of Mayors for Guaranteed Income, an organization formed by a coalition of 150 mayors advocating for GBI pilot programs.

“American voters support a guaranteed income, including 40% of Republicans,” he said recently Fox News Digitalnoting how members of both political parties face financial struggles.

Ex-Mayor Praises Guaranteed Basic Income, Says You're 'Disobedient' and 'Unenlightened' If You Disagree https://t.co/fUAJYuzz00 road @americanwire_

— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) June 10, 2024

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the program appeared to have a positive impact as the Cambridge Community Foundation reported In March, the 130 families allocated $500 per month for 18 months showed “significant improvements in financial health, higher rates of employment, increased time and space for parenting, and better outcomes educational for children”.

To qualify, Cambridge residents had to be 18 or older and their income had to be less than 80% of the area's median income. In addition, recipients had to be a single caregiver with at least one child under the age of 18.

“The money for the pilot program came from philanthropists. The city's new cash assistance program, Rise Up Cambridge, gives $500 a month to about 2,000 families living at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level using American Rescue Plan Act funds,” CBS News. reportedreferring to the drying up of the COVID-19 relief findings.

In Texas, the city of Austin began using tax dollars to fund GBI programs with the Austin City Council greenlighting a $1.3 million contract in April.

“The guaranteed income program received $1.1 million in taxpayer funding and an additional amount of more than $500,000 raised in philanthropic donations for the program when it began,” Fox News reported. “A recent survey showed that the city's guaranteed income program helped address the city's housing insecurity problem.”

Elsewhere in the state, the Texas Supreme Court halted an effort in Harris County to launch a similar program after Attorney General Ken Paxton and state lawmaker Paul Betten protested over constitutional concerns.

“Local governments exist in part to help the less fortunate among us, and the Supreme Court's ruling effectively ends a program that has proven highly successful in lifting lower-income people out of poverty Harris County Prosecutor Christian Menefee said. the court's decision that Paxton called “clearly unconstitutional.”

Cook County in Illinois; Wayne County in Michigan; and Los Angeles County in California have also launched GBI pilot programs.

In Phoenix, Arizona, a GBI program used $12 million in federal COVID relief funds to launch a program in 2022 giving $1,000 a month to 1,000 low-income families.

Phoenix's financial assistance program for families required participants to earn less than 80 percent of the city's median income of $63,200, according to a report at the time.

In March of this year, the Arizona House of Representatives voted on House Bill 2375 to ban guaranteed basic income programs in the state. Despite being unanimously approved by Republicans, no Democrats voted in favor of the bill, which has yet to pass the state Senate.

While former Mayor Tubbs admitted that Stockton's small size and limited budget meant implementing a GBI program was impractical, he believes the data generated from the tests could be valuable in convincing federal governments and states to go ahead with the idea.

“No city can make a guaranteed income at scale because we can't spend deficits. A guaranteed income at scale needs to be done by the federal government, as we saw with the child tax credit,” Tubbs said.

“And that's been an argument we've been making all along, but we can't wait on the federal government. And we often have to inspire and push the federal government to act,” he added.

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida, where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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