- Somerville, Massachusetts, will test a guaranteed basic income program for 200 low-income families.
- The program will provide no-strings monthly payments of $750 to keep people in their homes.
- Somerville’s income pilot project joins similar programs in Austin, San Antonio, Denver and Minneapolis.
A Massachusetts town is giving low-income families $750 a month, with no strings attached. The guaranteed basic income program will focus on residents who are at risk of losing their housing.
The Somerville GBI pilot project will serve approximately 200 low-income families currently experiencing housing insecurity. Participants must already be registered with local social and housing services.
The city, located northwest of Boston, announced March 20 that it would allocate $1.8 million to the program.
For a full year, participating households will receive monthly cash payments to spend as they wish. Somerville began enrolling eligible households last month and will begin payments in July.
Guaranteed basic income is gaining popularity in American cities. Income programs have been tested in San Antonio, Austin, Boston, Minneapolis and Durham, North Carolina. Some programs, like Denver’s, have been so successful that their funding has been extended.
Basic income participants told Business Insider that they use the money to pay rent, buy groceries, pay off credit card debt, and support their children.
“I was always missing a few hundred dollars in life,” one income program participant in San Antonio told BI. “For the first time, I can breathe.”
Basic income could help Somerville families pay rent
The city of Somerville said in a news release that its basic income pilot project aims to test the GBI model as a potential long-term solution to poverty.
Nearly 17% of all renter households in Somerville spend more than half of their income on housing, according to the city. And 51% of all renters in the Greater Boston area faced high costs in 2022, according to the Boston Foundation’s 2023 Housing Report. To be considered as having a workload, a household must spend at least 30% of its income on housing.
“Sometimes you just need solid ground under your feet to get through it and move forward, and this program aims to provide that support,” Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said in a public statement. Ballantyne is a member of Mayors for a guaranteed income.
The city will withdraw funding from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also known as ARPA. Federal funds are intended to mitigate the health and economic impacts of the pandemic in American cities. Somerville previously dedicated millions in ARPA funds to child care and rental assistance programs.
University of Massachusetts researchers will evaluate the GBI’s impact on Somerville participants throughout the program, the city said. Program results will be shared with local leaders and the public.
Despite opposition, income pilots continue across the country
The introduction of GBI programs has not come without opposition. In Arizona, South Dakota, Iowa and Texas, Republican legislatures and governors are working to ban basic income.
Some lawmakers have called the GBI a “socialist idea” and fear it will make people too dependent on the government.
“I think the Founding Fathers would say it’s very contrary to our capitalist system and encourages people to work,” John Gillette, a Republican representative from Arizona, told BI last month.
Yet basic income programs continue to be tested at the local level. St. Louis, Missouri, recently distributed $500 monthly payments to low-income families, and Flint, Michigan, is offering funds to new mothers. A program in Atlanta also offers no-strings-attached payments to low-income Black women.
Did you benefit from a guaranteed basic income program? Share your story with this reporter at allisonkelly@insider.com.
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