Nearly 2,000 Californians will get up to $1,200 a month through new basic income program
Nearly 2,000 Californians could receive monthly cash payments of $600 to $1,200 as part of the nation’s first state-funded guaranteed basic income program, the state’s social services department announced Monday.
The department intends to award more than $25.5 million in grant funding to seven pilot programs across the state, including ones to be managed by Inland Southern California United Way, the San Francisco Human Services Agency and the McKinleyville Community Collaborative in Humboldt County.
Approximately 1,975 Californians who are pregnant or aging out of foster care will receive the no-strings-attached payments for a period of 12-18 months. The department prioritized programs that would help residents during these pivotal life transitions.
“I’m incredibly proud to be the first state — the first state government — to do this,” said Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton who now serves as a special adviser on economic mobility and opportunity to Gov. Gavin Newsom. “We have a long way to go, but we’re closer.”
Legislators unanimously approved the state-funded program last July in a strong show of bipartisan support, the Associated Press reported.
“I think other states will be watching California very closely and following suit,” said Natalie Foster, co-founder of the Economic Security Project, an organization committed to funding and studying guaranteed income programs.
The group backed Tubbs’ 2019 guaranteed income pilot program, the first of its kind in the country, which gave $500 per month to 125 Stockton adults who made at or below the median income of $46,033 at the time. The recipients could spend the money in any way they chose. After the program’s first year, researchers found that participants were not only employed at higher rates, but they were also healthier, happier, and better able to withstand unexpected expenses.
In January, Sacramento adopted a program similar to Stockton’s. The city started giving 100 families no-strings-attached payments of $300 per month, and payments will continue through July 2023. Recipients said they’ve been able to pay off overdue bills, afford emergency repairs to their cars and home appliances, and even consider saving to buy a home one day.
The City Council approved a $750,000 expansion of the program in June. Eighty additional households will receive $500 per month under that expansion.
The seven state-funded pilot programs have yet to select their participants, although the social services department expects planning will start in January 2023. The organizations will have up to six months to develop an application and outreach process for prospective recipients. Each program will set its own eligibility criteria including an income threshold, according to a department spokesperson.
Tubbs didn’t shy away from the fact that most people who qualify won’t be able to take advantage of these pilot programs. He instead used that as an argument for why guaranteed income should be expanded.
“We all need to really use our collective voices and push so that we’re not using a lottery for people to have what they need to survive,” Tubbs said. “It shouldn’t be a stroke of luck — it needs to be an act of policy.”