SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – The Mayor of Oakland, California, on Tuesday announced a privately funded program that will give low-income families $ 500 a month with no rules on how to spend it.
The program is the latest “guaranteed income” experiment, an idea that giving poor people a certain amount each month helps to relieve the stress of poverty that often leads to ill health, while hindering their ability to work full-time. to work.
The idea is not new, but it is experiencing a revival in the US after a few mayors launched small, temporary programs across the country in a coordinated campaign to persuade Congress to adopt a national guaranteed income program.
The first program launched in 2019 in Stockton, California, led by former mayor Michael Tubbs. Tubbs, who founded the Guaranteed Income Mayors group, has said that about six similar programs should be running in other cities by the summer.
“We designed this demonstration project to increase the body of evidence and to start this relentless campaign to accept a federally guaranteed income,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
The Oakland Resilient Families Program has raised $ 6.75 million to date from private donors, including Blue Meridian Partners, a national philanthropy group. To be eligible, people must have at least one child under 18 and an income of 50% or less of the area’s average income – about $ 59,000 per year for a family of three.
Half the places are reserved for people earning less than 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $ 30,000 per year for a family of three. Entrants are randomly selected from a pool of candidates who meet the entry requirements.
The Oakland project is significant because it is one of the largest efforts in the US to date, targeting up to 600 families. And it is the first program to strictly limit participation to black, indigenous and people of colored communities.
The reason: According to the Oakland Equity Index, white households in Oakland earn about three times as much per year on average as black households. It’s also a nod to the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the political movement founded in Oakland in the 1960s.
“Guaranteed income has been a goal of the Black Panther platform since its inception,” said Jesús Gerena, CEO of Family Independence Initiative, which works with the Oakland-based program. “Direct investment in the community in response to systemic injustice is not new.”
The idea of a guaranteed income dates back to the 18th century. The US government experimented with it in the 1960s and 1970s when Republicans Donald Rumsfeld, later Secretary of Defense, and Dick Cheney, the future vice president, oversaw four programs nationwide during the Nixon administration.
Those studies concluded that the money didn’t stop people from working, leading Nixon to recommend expanding the program. But it never got through Congress.
Decades later, proponents try again, but this time it’s led by progressive mayors. The Stockton, California program ended in February. An independent review found that 40% of recipients were in full-time jobs after one year of receiving the money, compared to 28% before the program began.
“The fact that mayors are running pilots (guaranteed income programs), where they use political capital to raise capital to meet basic needs for their constituents, is a policy failure,” Tubbs said. “It is a recognition that we need to do more.”
It is unclear what a national guaranteed income program would look like. A proposal from former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang could have cost $ 2.8 trillion a year.
For many parents, some form of guaranteed income could come into effect this year as part of the latest federal stimulus package. Congress expanded the tax credit for children, aiming to provide many parents with monthly payments of up to $ 300 per month. Those payments are temporary.
In California, a proposal by Assemblyman Evan Low to give $ 1,000 a month to adults with a certain income could cost up to $ 129 billion annually – more than half of the total state budget – paid by a new 1% tax on incomes above $ 2 million. Low said the bill is unlikely to be passed this year, but he said his goal is to put people at ease with the idea.
“The initial shock seems to diminish as more people are educated and realize the benefits of having more control over their lives,” said Low.
Critics, including unions, are concerned that such expensive programs could force the abolition of other safety net programs, such as social security and food stamps. But Schaaf said she is not apologetic that “the social safety net programs should stay.”
“We believe that those safety net programs should not disappear, but should be supplemented with unconditional money that gives families the dignity and flexibility to meet their needs,” she said.