Austin becomes the primary Texas city to experiment with ‘guaranteed income’

Join The Brief, our day by day e-newsletter that keeps readers in control on the most essential Texas news.

Austin would be the first main Texas city to make use of native tax dollars to present cash to low-income families to keep them housed as the cost of residing skyrockets in the capital city.

Below a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that cleared a key Austin Metropolis Council vote Thursday, the city will ship monthly checks of $1,000 to 85 needy households prone to losing their homes — an try and insulate low-income residents from Austin’s increasingly expensive housing market and forestall extra people from becoming homeless.

“We are able to find individuals moments earlier than they end up on our streets that forestall them, divert them from being there,” Mayor Steve Adler stated at a press conference Thursday morning. “That will be not only wonderful for them, it could be smart and smart for the taxpayers in the metropolis of Austin as a result of it will be lots inexpensive to divert someone from homelessness than to help them find a dwelling as soon as they’re on our streets.”

Ad

Eight Austin Metropolis Council members voted Thursday to establish the “assured revenue” pilot program and contract with a California nonprofit to run it.

Austin joins not less than 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried some form of assured income. Domestically, the idea came out of efforts to transform how the town tackles public safety in the wake of protests over police brutality in 2020.

Other Texas metro areas have experimented with assured revenue programs during the pandemic. Programs in San Antonio and El Paso County have sent common funds to low-income households utilizing a combination of federal stimulus dollars and charitable contributions. Austin is believed to have the one program fully funded by local taxpayers.

Austin officials are understanding how precisely the program will work and which households will receive the money. Austinites who qualify won’t have restrictions on how they'll spend the cash — but the thought is that they’ll use it to pay household prices like lease, utilities, transportation and groceries.

Ad

City officials have floated some potentialities concerning who should qualify for assist: residents who've an eviction case filed in opposition to them or have hassle paying their utility bills, in addition to folks already experiencing homelessness.

Ahead of Thursday’s vote, some council members voiced concerns concerning the relative lack of particulars about the program and questioned whether it was a good idea for Austin to make use of local tax dollars to fund this system, rather than letting the federal government or nonprofits take the lead.

“I believe that we do must invest in people and their fundamental needs, but I’m unsure that that is the appropriate approach right this moment,” council member Alison Alter stated at Thursday’s assembly earlier than voting against the measure.

Brion Oaks, town’s chief fairness officer, informed city officers in a memo that the City Institute, a nonprofit assume tank based mostly in Washington, D.C., will assist measure this system’s affect by looking at components like members’ financial stability, stress levels and general wellness over the course of receiving the funds.

Advert

Preliminary findings from the same pilot program confirmed some promising results. UpTogether, the California nonprofit that will run the Austin program, ran a separate guaranteed income program funded by personal dollars in Austin and Georgetown that ended in March, the nonprofit mentioned in an announcement Thursday. That program gave 173 households $1,000 a month for a year, and the nonprofit mentioned contributors used the cash for expenses like lease and mortgage funds, baby care, gas and groceries.

Some had been capable of enhance their financial savings, greater than half of recipients slashed their debt by 75% and greater than a 3rd eradicated their family debt, the nonprofit said.

Based on Austin’s Ending Community Homelessness Coalition, the town has greater than 3,100 individuals experiencing homelessness. A local ban on most evictions through the pandemic kept the variety of eviction case fillings low compared with other main Texas cities, however that number has exploded because the ban ended final yr.

Advert

Guaranteed revenue may be one option to put a dent in these issues, proponents stated.

“This is about stopping displacement, preventing eviction and making certain that our families are capable of keep of their home, that we have that stability,” council member Vanessa Fuentes mentioned.

Disclosure: Steve Adler, a former Texas Tribune board chair, has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that's funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full list of them right here.

Help mission-driven journalism flourish in Texas. The Texas Tribune depends on reader assist to continue delivering news that informs Texans and engages with them. Donate now to hitch as a Texas Tribune member. Plus, give month-to-month or yearly now by Could 5 and also you’ll help unlock a $10K match. Give and double your influence as we speak.

Ad

Clarification, Might 6, 2022: This story has been up to date to reflect that Austin is the primary Texas metropolis to use native tax dollars for a “guaranteed earnings” program, and that different Texas cities have experimented with similar programs utilizing different forms of funding.