City experiments with a guaranteed monthly income, no strings attached

Chicago and the surrounding suburbs of Cook County are conducting the largest experiment of its kind in the nation, an effort to supply thousands of residents with a basic level of subsistence, not in the form of food, housing or child care — just cash. Lightfoot’s $31.5 million Resilient Communities Pilot selected 5,000 city residents in August to receive a guaranteed cash income for a year. The first $500 checks from a separate program, a $42 million county pilot, went out in December to 3,250 residents concentrated in the near-in Chicago suburbs.

On Monday at the National Association of Counties conference in Washington, which started over the weekend and runs through Tuesday, county executives will announce a network of county-level basic income programs to match the mayoral initiatives that have sprouted to 50 cities.

Both Chicago and Cook County are tapping money sent to local governments through the 2021 pandemic relief law known as the American Rescue Plan. Both programs are administered by a group, GiveDirectly, that had been better known for helping poor people in developing nations. The city and county efforts are being assessed by social scientists at the University of Chicago.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment for us to be bold and innovative,” said Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services.

For Democrats, the concept is a wager on big government at a time when faith in democratic governance is at a low ebb. For Republicans, it’s a return to discredited welfare handouts that waste money and foster dependency.

Whatever the outcome, the spread of basic income programs is a reminder of the growing divide between Democrats and Republicans, urban voters and rural conservatives, those who want more government in people’s lives and those who want less.

“There’s no indication that I see that the American public thinks what we really need is more aid to people who choose not to work,” said Robert Rector, a conservative public assistance expert at the Heritage Foundation who helped shape the welfare changes of the 1990s.

But in Democratic cities, in states deep blue and bright red, such as Columbia, South Carolina, Shreveport, Louisiana, and Birmingham, Alabama, political leaders are moving in the opposite direction. Lightfoot may be in the throes of a difficult campaign for reelection, but none of her eight rivals for the Democratic mayoral nomination before the first round of voting Feb. 28 have made

— Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services

an issue of her guaranteed income effort.

Instead, Lightfoot is picking a fight with the national Republican Party.

“These are the same people that didn’t want to expand health care, and look at the number of people in their communities, these ruby-red communities, that are suffering,” Lightfoot said. “These are the same people, frankly, that are attacking the very core of our democracy, demonizing being different, being the other, based upon your religion, your creed, who you love, your gender identity.”

She said: “I’m the mayor of the city of Chicago. I know what our people need.”

Adrian Talbott, associate dean for civic engagement at the Crown Family School of Social Work at the University of Chicago, called the effort “a prime example of Democrats’ assertion that government can work.” He added that the expectation was, “with big bets on behalf of traditionally marginalized, vulnerable populations in light of the pandemic, government can meet this moment.”

The income cutoff for Chicago and Cook County is forgiving, 250% of the federal poverty level — $36,450 a year for an individual, $75,000 for a family of four — although acceptance was weighted toward certain groups such as homeless people, veterans and caregivers. University of Chicago researchers are using surveys, in-person interviews and economic, labor, criminal, legal and educational data to track recipients of the money and an even larger control group not selected for the grants.

Liberal academics have their own criticisms of such programs, which gained prominence when 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposed a $1,000-a-month universal basic income. A 2019 report by European labor unions expressed worry that unconditional cash assistance to create a universal income floor in a developed economy might render targeted social services obsolete, ending government functions that ensure equitable health care, child care and educational services.

With so many social service programs struggling under the weight of bureaucracy and inefficiency, the Chicago-area pilot programs are aimed not only at efficiently delivering assistance but at rescuing citizens’ faith in government at a time when democratic principles are being questioned, advocates say.