Gainey right to nix Peduto’s basic income gimmick
Mayor Ed Gainey made the right call by canceling a pilot program that would have given 200 city residents a guaranteed monthly income of $500. The concept of a basic income for all may have merit. Most guaranteed-income studies show little negative effect on employment and strong improvements in health, especially mental health. But the City of Pittsburgh can’t administer it or fund it long-term.
Former mayor Bill Peduto dreamed up the pilot scheme. He planned to funnel $2.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act money through the OnePGH nonprofit, which he designed to collect and distribute contributions from the region’s major nonprofit institutions. The plan was too-clever-byhalf, one of the vaguely progressive gimmicks that Mr. Peduto seemed to delight in.
As Mayor Gainey’s office pointed out, federal money can’t be shunted into an unaccountable foundation, then divvied up among 200 citizens. And even if it could be, it would not be a sustainable solution to poverty in Pittsburgh.
What happens when the federal money runs out? What was the plan for extending the program to all the people who would qualify? Nearly 20% of Pittsburgh residents, about 60,000 people, live below the poverty line.
Giving them $500 a month would cost the city $360 million a year, about 60% of the city’s budget. Even limiting the program to 10,000 recipients, probably the bare minimum to make a real difference, would cost a tenth of the budget.
All this was known when the former mayor proposed it. It was never going to work for Pittsburgh. The
present mayor saw the reality and killed the program.
A city is not supposed to be, nor can it be, a welfare regime. Tackling society-wide problems like poverty belongs to the levels of government that can take a society-wide view. If there’s ever an American basic income, it will be almost certainly be a federal program.
Cities — especially mid-size cities like this one — are not equipped to administer or pay for them. Pittsburgh’s job is to keep its bridges standing, its parks and water clean, its people safe and connected. The city helps to set the conditions that allow smart development, successful businesses and thriving families.
This doesn’t mean that Pittsburgh is helpless, but its aims must be more modest. That means sustainable and targeted poverty-reduction plans, such as clearing blight and incentivizing development where it’s most needed, not progressive gimmicks that make promises the city can’t keep.