A city gave people $500 a month, no strings attached, to fight poverty. It paid off, study says

Residents who received $500 a month from a first-of-its-kind guaranteed-income program were more likely to find fulltime jobs, be happy and stay healthy, according to a year-long study published Wednesday.

Supporters of universal income programs — which provide regular, unconditional payments from the government to people — say the findings should dispel common criticisms of the idea, such as that money with no strings attached disincentivizes people to work or encourages them to spend it on drugs and alcohol.

Recipients of the monthly payments in Stockton,

Calif., were twice as likely to gain full-time employment than others, according to data analysis by a pair of independent researchers, Stacia West of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Amy Castro Baker of the University of Pennsylvania. Most of the money distributed was spent on food or other essentials. Tobacco or alcohol made up less than 1% of tracked purchases.

Starting in February 2019, the Stockton program has provided monthly payments for two years to 125 residents living in neighborhoods with a median income below $46,034. Participants can use the money as they see fit, without work requirements or other restrictions.

It is funded by the Economic Security Project, a philanthropic group helmed in part by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

The released results were collected before the coronavirus pandemic had hobbled the U.S. economy, and a second study is expected to be published next year, according to the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED).

The study’s authors said they believe the payment recipients were better able to set goals and have their own agency to seek more stable employment. They were also less anxious and depressed, as well as less likely to feel fatigue or body pain associated with poor emotional health.

Tomas Vargas Jr., a recipient in the study, said his overall health improved and he was able to spend more time with his children and wife. Vargas, formerly a part-time supervisor at a warehouse, also found a full-time job once he started receiving regular payments.

“It was a big change in my life,” Vargas told reporters Wednesday. “I was very depressed. I was down and out. I was at the bottom. SEED brought me back, gave me that chance, that opportunity.”

Florida Secretary of Agriculture Nikki Fried is a troublemaker and an inciter. Assuming COVID-19 infects and can kill the most vulnerable, including those over the age of 65, we can also assume the disease can infect those who are rich or poor.

The plan should be to vaccinate as many individuals over 65 as quickly as possible and do so where there is a concentration of people over 65. This can be The Villages, nursing homes, Century Village, retirement developments, and yes, Ocean Reef.

That the owners there are wealthy and most over 65 (I guess it takes time to accumulate wealth) should have no bearing on whether they get vaccinations rapidly. The decision to go to these concentrated areas of seniors is obvious and proper.

For Fried to rile up people with false assumptions is typical of her grandstanding since she got in office.

I am happy that she is not in charge of the vaccination program.

– Lloyd Wruble,

Palmetto Bay