UBI: A Solution to Homelessness?

Austin, TX, the home of DONUT HQ, announced a pilot program late last week that'll send checks of ~$1,000/month, no strings attached, to 85 local households at risk of losing their homes.

💸 A deeper dive... Mayor Steve Adler said the program is intended to benefit local taxpayers “because it will be a lot less expensive to divert someone from homelessness than to help them find a home once they're on our streets."

• To carry out the program, Austin is partnering with nonprofit UpTogether, which ran a similar privately-funded initiative for low-income residents in Austin and D.C. that ended in March.
• UpTogether said more than half of the recipients in its pilot program were able to slash their household debt by 75+%, with more than a third eliminating their debt entirely.

✋ Yes, but… Some Austin city council members have voiced concerns about the relative lack of details about the program, and the idea to use local tax dollars instead of seeking federal or private funds.

📸 Big picture: Austin joins at least 28 other major US cities that have implemented a similar program targeting low-income residents, including LA, Chicago, Atlanta and NYC; it’s believed to be the first such publicly-funded program in the state of Texas.

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