Denver Basic Income Project shares results after one year of cash payments to homeless Denverites

The Denver Basic Income Project provided people experiencing homelessness with no-strings-attached monthly stipends that they could spend however they’d like. At the end of the pilot, twice as many participants were in stable housing, more of them were working full time, and the nights that participants spent in shelters decreased by half.

The city of Louisville, Kentucky, offered some residents of low-income neighborhoods $500 a month for a year with no strings attached as a part of its first ever guaranteed income program. The funds allowed people to start building savings and prevented evictions.

The Yolo County Basic Income Program is helping local parents with children under six who are experiencing homelessness. The basic income program gives each family $1,200 to $1,500 each month with no strings attached. The amount varies monthly based on how much is needed to put them above California’s Poverty Measure.

The city of Cambridge ran a guaranteed income program to help lift low-income single parents above the poverty line. The program provided 130 parents, who were selected by lottery, with $500 a month — no strings attached.

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.

Urban Alchemy specializes in stepping in to help cities when their efforts to address homelessness have reached an inflection point, rapidly scaling new programs such as “safe sleep sites” and emergency shelters while tapping formerly incarcerated people to serve as staffers. However, the organization’s methods are sometimes controversial, resulting in a handful of lawsuits and canceled contracts.

A guaranteed income program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provided 130 single caregivers who made below 80% of the local median income with $500 cash payments, no strings attached. The 18-month program, Cambridge Recurring Income for Success, helped participants increase their savings, cover emergencies, and spend more time with their children.

A site full of tiny homes called The Village provides stable, transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness in Duncan, British Columbia. The organizations that run the site provide residents with addiction recovery support and necessities like food while creating a welcoming, culturally safe community.

Community Transitional School, a nonprofit school serving students experiencing poverty and homelessness, emphasizes peer support, personalized learning, and holistic services to help reduce stigma and help students succeed academically.

A lump sum of $7,500 was handed out to people experience homelessness in Vancouver as an experiment. The results show that recipients benefitted by accessing stable housing faster and eventually achieving financial stability sooner, in addition to spending less money on alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.