Oakland will donate low-income families of color $ 500 a month, the mayor announces

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Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced this week that the city will launch a guaranteed income project to give hundreds of black and indigenous families and people of color $ 500 a month for 18 months.

The project payments are unconditional and the recipients are free to spend the money as they wish.

The Oakland Resilient Families program is the latest trial of a “guaranteed income” wealth distribution system, where residents receive a fixed monthly amount to supplement the existing social safety net.
The objectives of the project groups with the greatest wealth differentials in the city, according to the Oakland Equality Index, which shows that the average income for white households in Oakland is nearly three times that of black households.
“The poverty we all witness today is not a personal failure, it is a system failure,” Schaaf said in a statement. “Guaranteed income is one of the most promising tools for system change, racial equality and economic mobility we’ve seen in decades.”

Guaranteed income provides security to those who need it most

Guaranteed Income differs from Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would provide sufficient income to provide for everyone’s basic needs.

Instead, the Guaranteed Income is only intended to supplement other wages and programs for low-income residents, building the “income floor” on which people in poverty can begin building a financially secure life.
While the idea has seen a resurgence in recent years, it’s not new – Martin Luther King, Jr. advocated it in his 1967 book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?”

“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective – the solution to poverty is to abolish it immediately through a now much discussed measure: guaranteed income,” wrote King.

Other cities have implemented it

In 2019, 100 residents of Stockton, California, began to receive unconditional payments of $ 500. Other initiatives in Newark, New Jersey and Atlanta, Georgia were not launched until 2020.
Michael Tubbs, former Mayor of Stockton, is the founder of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a network of mayor advocates established in 2020. Oakland Mayor Schaaf is also a founding member of the network.
“One of my hopes in testing a guaranteed income is that other cities would follow, and I’m delighted that Oakland is among the first,” said Tubbs. “By focusing on the residents of BIPOC, the Oakland Resilient Families Program will provide critical financial support to those most affected by systemic inequalities, including the pandemic’s disproportionate toll on communities of color.”

Oakland Resilient Families is taking the guaranteed income model to new heights, with 600 families being disbursed. The project, funded solely from philanthropic donations, has raised $ 6.75 million to date, which is said to be distributed at least 80%.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for the Oakland Resilient Families payments, families must have at least one child under 18. Their income must be at or below the area’s average income: about $ 59,000 for a family of three.

But half of the available places will be reserved for very low-income families – those earning less than 138% of the federal poverty level – or about $ 30,000 per year for a family of three.

Later this spring and summer, an online multilingual screening form will be released and families will be randomly selected to receive payments. The program is also open to undocumented and / or unaccompanied families. Since recipients do not have to work for the benefits, the money is not considered taxable income.

Oakland Resilient Families will work with local community organizations and government leaders to include community feedback during the rollout of the project, which should be fully operational by the summer.

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