Austin becomes the first Texas city to experiment with ‘guaranteed earnings’

Sign up for The Transient, our day by day e-newsletter that retains readers in control on probably the most important Texas news.

Austin would be the first major Texas metropolis to make use of local tax dollars to offer money to low-income households to keep them housed as the cost of residing skyrockets in the capital city.

Underneath a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that cleared a key Austin City Council vote Thursday, the city will ship month-to-month checks of $1,000 to 85 needy households susceptible to dropping their homes — an try to insulate low-income residents from Austin’s increasingly expensive housing market and forestall extra folks from turning into homeless.

“We will discover people moments before they find yourself on our streets that prevent them, divert them from being there,” Mayor Steve Adler mentioned at a press convention Thursday morning. “That might be not solely fantastic for them, it could be clever and sensible for the taxpayers in the metropolis of Austin as a result of it will be so much less expensive to divert somebody from homelessness than to assist them find a residence as soon as they’re on our streets.”

Advert

Eight Austin City Council members voted Thursday to ascertain the “assured income” pilot program and contract with a California nonprofit to run it.

Austin joins no less than 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, which have tried some type of guaranteed revenue. Regionally, the idea got here out of efforts to remodel how town tackles public safety within the wake of protests over police brutality in 2020.

Different Texas metro areas have experimented with assured revenue applications during the pandemic. Packages in San Antonio and El Paso County have despatched regular payments to low-income households utilizing a combination of federal stimulus dollars and charitable contributions. Austin is believed to have the one program totally funded by local taxpayers.

Austin officials are working out how exactly the program will work and which families will obtain the cash. Austinites who qualify won’t have restrictions on how they will spend the cash — however the thought is that they’ll use it to pay family costs like rent, utilities, transportation and groceries.

Ad

Metropolis officers have floated some prospects relating to who ought to qualify for assist: residents who've an eviction case filed against them or have bother paying their utility payments, 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 suggestion for Austin to make use of native tax dollars to fund the program, slightly than letting the federal government or nonprofits take the lead.

“I believe that we do must put money into individuals and their primary needs, however I’m unsure that that is the suitable way immediately,” council member Alison Alter said at Thursday’s assembly earlier than voting in opposition to the measure.

Brion Oaks, the town’s chief equity officer, told city officers in a memo that the Urban Institute, a nonprofit assume tank based in Washington, D.C., will help measure the program’s impact by taking a look at components like individuals’ monetary stability, stress ranges and total wellness over the course of receiving the funds.

Advert

Preliminary findings from an analogous pilot program showed some promising outcomes. UpTogether, the California nonprofit that will run the Austin program, ran a separate assured earnings program funded by private dollars in Austin and Georgetown that resulted in March, the nonprofit stated in a press release Thursday. That program gave 173 households $1,000 a month for a yr, and the nonprofit stated individuals used the cash for expenses like lease and mortgage payments, baby care, fuel and groceries.

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

Based on Austin’s Ending Group Homelessness Coalition, the town has more than 3,100 people experiencing homelessness. An area ban on most evictions through the pandemic saved the number of eviction case fillings low compared with other major Texas cities, but that quantity has exploded because the ban ended last yr.

Ad

Guaranteed income may be one approach to put a dent in these problems, proponents mentioned.

“That is about stopping displacement, stopping eviction and making certain that our families are able to keep in their residence, that we've that stability,” council member Vanessa Fuentes said.

Disclosure: Steve Adler, a former Texas Tribune board chair, has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that is funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a full checklist 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 join as a Texas Tribune member. Plus, give month-to-month or yearly now via Might 5 and also you’ll help unlock a $10K match. Give and double your affect as we speak.

Advert

Clarification, Could 6, 2022: This story has been up to date to reflect that Austin is the primary Texas metropolis to use local tax dollars for a “assured income” program, and that different Texas cities have experimented with similar applications utilizing other types of funding.