Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

States and Localities Can Use Guaranteed Income to Support People Experiencing Homelessness or Housing Instability While Promoting Dignity and Racial Equity

Guaranteed income (GI) is emerging as one strategy for helping people afford housing and other expenses like food, clothing, and transportation. Unlike universal basic income, which proposes giving a standard periodic cash payment to all individuals, guaranteed income provides cash assistance to people based on a determined need — such as experiencing housing instability or having income below a certain level — with assistance typically ranging between $500 and $1000 a month. Promising findings from individual pilot programs support broader research demonstrating that GI programs can be a mechanism for helping people meet their needs.

First-in-the-Nation “New York Healthy Birth Grant” to Slash Childhood Poverty

The New York Healthy Birth Grant would use flexible Medicaid dollars to create a statewide program that gives working families a one-time grant of $1,800 for every birth financed by Medicaid. The New York Healthy Birth Grant builds upon other antipoverty proposals from Senator Gounardes, including the Working Families Tax Credit, which would streamline and expanding existing tax credits by raising the maximum credit to $1,600 per child, providing a $100 minimum credit per child, eliminating the cap on the number of eligible kids and pinning the credit to inflation.

City of Milwaukee

Substitute resolution relating to the reallocation and expenditure of up to $847,900 of American Rescue Plan Act funds.

This bill proposes the reallocation and expenditure of up to $847,900 of American Rescue Plan Act funds. It reallocates the contract funds to the Office of the City Clerk and authorizes the expenditure of those funds for the following purposes: 1. Up to $350,000 for City participation in the Zilber Foundation’s The Bridge Project. 2. Up to $497,900 for the Concordia 27 development. Ald. Bauman, Burgelis, Moore, and Brostoff added as cosponsors.

Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (2024)

Rewriting the Story: Lived experiences of New Yorkers receiving cash assistance

Our new report shares findings from 32 in-depth interviews and a statewide survey that we conducted with New Yorkers who receive cash assistance, many of whom meet the federal government's definition of "deep poverty" and face serious barriers to economic mobility. Our report centers their stories because too often, discussions about poverty and economic inequality overlook the everyday lived reality that New Yorkers face—the difficult choices, the emotional toll, and the shame cast upon individuals, families, and entire communities. This report sheds light on that lived reality by letting New Yorkers receiving cash assistance tell their own stories, both about what they are struggling with now, but also about what they have overcome and what their hopes are for the future.

University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab (2024)

Making Every Dollar Count: A Closer Look at Benefits Protection Strategies Implemented by Guaranteed Income Pilots in Illinois

The Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot (CRCP) was the largest guaranteed income pilot in the country by reach with 5,006 families enrolled. Not only was the reach of the pilot impressive, CRCP administrators have notably achieved more success protecting public benefits for participants than almost any other pilot at the time. The successful protection of public benefits for the Chicago pilot is in large part due to the groundwork done in Illinois and around the country by other pilots in previous years.

Project Community Connections Inc. (2024)

Project Community Connections, Inc. Cash Transfer Pilot

In recent years, unconditional cash transfer programs have garnered global attention for their potential to positively transform existing social assistance programs and policy. While the effectiveness of such policies, often referred to as guaranteed or basic income, is increasingly documented, less is known about their effects on households experiencing homelessness, a group with particularly complex and multidimensional needs. The limited research available, however, is promising, suggesting that even one-time cash transfers can lead to fewer days spent homeless and ultimately generate net societal savings.

Urban Institute (2023)

Investing in Youth through Direct Cash Transfers

Numerous studies have found that conditional and unconditional cash transfers have positive impacts on schooling, nutrition, and employment outcomes and are associated with reductions in criminal activity, lower rates of income volatility, lower rates of food insecurity, and improved well-being. However, there remain many questions about how cash transfers work, which types work better in which settings, and whether giving funds directly to youth to prevent violence exposure can be successful. It is also unknown whether pairing after-school programming with a cash transfer can increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.

Creatives Build New York (2024)

Guaranteed Income for Artists Process Evaluation

The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on artists, many of whom were already financially precarious and had no safety net. According to a national survey of 33,000 artists and cultural workers, 62% became unemployed nearly overnight, and 95% lost creative income.

Creatives Build New York (2024)

Two Years Later: Reflections and Recommendations from CRNY

The first two resources are process evaluations that assess the design and implementation of both of our programs. These reports are intended to provide transparency into CRNY’s processes over the last two years.

CRNY GI Working Group Recommendations Report (2024)

Recommendations from Creatives Rebuild New York’s Guaranteed Income for Artists Working Group

To process what has been learned to date and align around strategic opportunities for moving forward, CRNY convened two conversations with peer administrators of programs providing unrestricted cash to artists.

Economic Security Project (2024)

A Window of Opportunity to Frame the Guaranteed Income Narrative

This resource shows how to engage a wider range of stakeholders by 1.) identifying groups that could be supportive or persuaded and 2.) crafting the messages and messengers that would…

Power of Cash Narrative Grant Showcase

Learn about how five local organizations utilize narrative change interventions to build positive community awareness around guaranteed income.