Guaranteed Income Programs Spread, City by City

Neighborhood Centers, a Houston anti-poverty program has a simple philosophy: “The people are the asset, the source of potential solutions, not the problem.” The non-profit has scaled nationally, employing its bottom-up approach to disburse funds in poor communities.

Around the world, students borrow money to pay for college, but, in the United States, students are more likely to fall behind on loans. Australia may offer some lessons: borrowers in Australia only start paying back their loans once their earnings reach $40,000, and beyond that they pay four percent of their income until the loans are repaid. The system does not penalize borrowers when they face economic hardship.

Over two million baby boomers own their own companies, and with retirement looming, the government stepped in with a solution. A portion of a 2018 federal bill included language that will push the Small Business Administration to help baby boomers transition ownership of their companies to their employees if they wish. This will mitigate job loss often associated with a retiring business owner putting the company up for sale. Employee owners on average make a higher salary and have higher job stability, supporting the idea that employee ownership is beneficial for everyone involved, as well as for the econom

The results of a universal basic income (UBI) program in Kenya show the positive ripple effect of giving everyone money on a consistent basis over the course of several years. Recipients have been able to lift themselves out of poverty, start businesses, and invest in communal projects such as plumbing and better housing. Improved mental and physical health was also a major outcome of the initiative.

The New Leaf project ran a controlled trial to test the power of direct cash transfers with people experiencing homelessness. Fifty people were given a one-time cash payment of $7,500, which roughly equaled the sum of government income assistance spread out across the year. The impact was measured over 12 months and found that people in the cash group moved into stable housing faster, spent fewer days homeless, and saved more money. The organization found the lump sum, rather than monthly increments, allowed people to make decisions about how they could move their lives forward aimed at stabilization.

The Child Tax Credit included in the coronavirus relief package provides a guaranteed income for families with children. The merits of guaranteed income have been established in multiple countries as well as local programs in the United States. Results have shown that cash payments allow people to focus on whatever their basic needs are. Poverty rates in places like Alaska have dropped drastically due to cash payments from the government.

Universal Basic Income programs like LA County’s “Breathe” provide monthly funds to people in need, some of which include expectant mothers. The state is currently in the process of rolling out more UBI programs aimed specifically at pregnant people to help improve rates of infant and maternal mortality among people of color.

A partnership between Minnesota’s state parks and libraries in low-income communities is providing free entry passes to the parks to allow those who could not otherwise afford to visit a chance to do so.

The two-year pause on federal student loan payments in the United States during the pandemic allowed Black women, who share a disproportionate amount of the country’s student debt, to redirect the money they would typically use for repayment toward other needs.

The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust uses conservation easements to conserve agricultural land in the state. These agreements happen when a landowner sells or donates the development rights to their land to the trust forever. They are allowed to keep farming the land, but it must remain undeveloped.