Early in the pandemic, Alondra Barajas took a temporary job with the Census Bureau, working on the phones in the two-bedroom apartment she shared with her mother and four younger siblings. When that job ended in late 2020, she had trouble finding her job.
But Barajas learned from an Instagram ad that he might be eligible for an unusual form of support: $1,000 a month for a year.
While looking after her new baby, looking for a job and looking for a new place to stay, her outlook has looked bright since she started receiving funding this year.
“It helped me hit rock bottom,” she said.
The payment is part of the city of Los Angeles’ pilot program, one of the largest income-guaranteed experiments in the United States. The idea is that the best way to close the wealth gap and give people the chance to build a more stable life is to provide unlimited cash payments to the most vulnerable Americans.
This concept, sometimes called a universal basic income, has been upheld for decades. Andrew Yang has been the centerpiece of the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. At the same time, detractors have long argued that this approach motivates people not to work.
Starting in 2020, more than 48 Guaranteed Income programs will be launched in cities nationwide, according to Mayors for Guaranteed Income, a network of leaders supporting such initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels. it was done. Some initiatives are publicly funded, while others are supported by non-governmental sources. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he donated $18 million to support the initiative.
California has become the epicenter of the movement. The Los Angeles program, which is largely funded by the city, benefits her 3,200 with at least one child, and her annual income is below federal poverty levels. Some cities are working with private funding. Auckland pledged $500 to 600 low-income families for 18 months, San Diegosome families with young children receive $500 a month for two years.
Last year, the state set aside $35 million over five years for cities to implement pilot programs. A variety of criteria can be used for this, including income level, people leaving the foster care system, and residency in low-income areas. An application process is underway for local governments to take advantage of these funds.
Outside of California, 300 Atlanta residents living below federal poverty levels will receive $500 a month for one year, and in Minneapolis, 200 residents in designated low-income neighborhoods will receive $500 a month for two years. receive. This fall, 260 people living in Denver motels or emergency shelters received her $6,500 payment, plus an additional $500 monthly payment for 11 months, with another 560 people due.
As Mayor of Stockton, Calif., who introduced one of the country’s first income protection programs in 2019, Michael Tubbs said these payments weren’t the only source of income, they were meant to provide a buffer for people to go bankrupt. stated that it is intended to cycle of poverty.
Inflation FAQ
What is inflation? Inflation is the loss of purchasing power over time. So your dollar won’t go as well tomorrow as it did today. This is usually expressed as annual fluctuations in the prices of commodities and services such as food, furniture, clothing, transportation, and toys.
Tubbs sees the program as an important tool in achieving racial justice for blacks and Latinos.
“The way racism and capitalism have intersected to steal wealth from some communities is creating the disparities we see today,” he said.
Damon Jones, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who has studied such programs, believes that unlimited cash, including stimulus payments, has been widely used by the federal government to stem the economic blow from COVID-19. pointed out that there is
“Policy makers have been surprisingly open to this idea since the pandemic hit,” Jones said. Emergency aid programs have now largely expired, and what once was a lifeline is coming to an end.
Opponents argue that income security programs are too costly and unproductive.
Oren Kath, executive director of conservative think tank American Compass, said the reason for opposing income guarantees was “not that people who happen to receive an unexpected benefit can’t benefit, but at least In some cases, it’s not because they can and they’re making a profit.”
“A permanent, society-wide system that provides for everyone would destroy a fundamental element of the social contract and create the wrong incentives for people to choose their course in life.” cannot steer.”
Beyond the philosophical objections, the researchers say it would be difficult to apply lessons from a pilot program like that in Los Angeles on a national scale.
An analysis by the Jain Family Institute, a non-profit organization that has studied several pilot programs, found that the best path toward state-guaranteed income was not by increasing the scale of pilot programs, but by working income, etc. to reform and expand existing federal programs in Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.
“It makes no sense to take a local government program and build it when a reformable program is already in place,” said Stephen Nuñez, principal investigator on income security at the Jain Family Institute. .
For example, California, like nearly a dozen other states, already has a form of child tax credit, according to Dr. Nunez. In California, parents whose annual income is less than $30,000 are eligible.
“These can be extended,” he said.
But based on tests in Stockton, a struggling inland port city of 320,000 people in the Central Valley, Tubbs says local programs are important in gaining public support for surveys and unconditional cash assistance. I believe we can play a role.
“When I started this effort nearly five years ago, people thought I was crazy,” said Tubbs, 32, who lost his 2020 re-election run and now serves as an adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom. I called,” he said. income.
Tubbs’ passion for the idea is rooted in personal experience. He grew up in Stockton with his single mother, and they lived on a tight budget. Income protection programs like the one now sprouting up could have helped the family, he said.
A preliminary study by two university professors, based on the first year of a two-year program at Stockton University, found that giving families $500 a month reduced family income volatility and increased the chances of recipients having a full-time job. It turns out that you can find the .
For example, researchers found that 28% of recipients had full-time employment when the program launched in February 2019. A year later, this figure was 40% for him.
In one case, the participant had been studying for a real estate license for over a year. This is the path to a more stable and higher paying job. The money from the pilot program the researchers discovered gave him time to study and get his license.
Lessons are now being tested on a wider scale.
General Manager Abigail Marquez said, Los Angeles The pilot program said the goal of her city’s efforts is to encourage change in how federal public benefit programs are designed.
“Many, if not all, public benefit program regulations are contradictory, difficult to navigate, and not focused on paving the way for greater economic opportunities,” Marquez said. Told. (Some states, including California, have built in waivers to ensure recipients are not at risk of losing certain state and federal aid by accepting funding from pilot programs. .)
The Los Angeles program received $38 million from the city. A small portion of the funding comes from private sources.
According to city data, a third of adults in Los Angeles can’t support their families with just a full-time job.
At the start of the program, Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “By providing resources to struggling families, we are giving them a breather to achieve the goals many of us are fortunate enough to take for granted. can give.
The relaxation room came at the perfect time for Mr. Barajas. After graduating from high school in 2017, she pushed aside her dreams of going to college and began working in a string of retail businesses including Clare’s, Old Her Navy, and Walmart. She set aside $300 from her salary each month to cover her family’s rent.
The state of jobs in the United States
Economists have been surprised by recent strength in the labor market as the Federal Reserve (Fed) plots to slow the economy and curb inflation.
“I had to work,” she said. “We had no foundation, no money in our pockets.”
Last year, 22-year-old Barajas received funding from an extended child tax credit. She used some of the money for her necessities such as clothes and food.
One afternoon in Chatsworth, near Los Angeles, Barajas reflected on how the money from the Income Guarantee Program helped her survive. She moved out of her mother’s apartment in April after an altercation, and since then she and her daughter, now 15 months, have slept on friends’ couches and sometimes stayed in weekly motels. I’m here.
For now, they live in a 90-day shelter for women and children. Barajas hopes to attend community college this fall, but is focused on finding a job first. Many mornings she scrolls through her iPhone seeing her posts before her daughter wakes up.
Most of the money from guaranteed income payments goes to food, diapers, and clothing, but I’m trying to save a few hundred dollars, enough for a security deposit for an apartment I want to move in with a friend.
“I’m one step away from the emergency of having to spend money and live on the streets and be homeless,” she said. , is clinging.”
Zona Everett, who was part of the Stockton Program, knows what it feels like to live within that ultra-thin confines.
Before the program launched in 2019, she was making about $100 a day driving five days a week for DoorDash. At the time, her husband was working as a truck driver and the rent for her two-bedroom apartment was her $1,000. To pay for gas, Everett occasionally collected recyclables and turned them into cash.
“The money was a godsend,” Everett said of the Stockton program, adding that while enrolled in the program he got a contract job on the production line at a Tesla factory in Fremont, California.
Until then, 51-year-old Everett had been keeping busy. After her payments started, she noticed she was sleeping better than she had in years.
“It really took a burden off me,” she said.
Payments stopped during the pandemic, but then she received stimulus money from the federal government. She was starting to save some money, but she recently quit her Tesla job after a Covid case left her with persistent fatigue and breathing problems.
“There are a lot of struggles with this pandemic,” she said. “We need permanent solutions to help people.”