S. F. takes a look at guaranteed income plan
A proposal to begin studying a guaranteed income program in San Francisco is up for a vote Tuesday before the Board of Supervisors.
As with a similar program city officials enacted in Stockton, the measure’s proponents said a guaranteed income program could help provide muchneeded economic mobility and help to lift people out of poverty.
The board’s Rules Committee approved the measure unanimously on Monday, setting up a vote before all 11 supervisors Tuesday.
If approved, a ninemember advisory group would convene experts in the field of economics and social services along with people who’ve experienced the effects of poverty firsthand to
study the feasibility of creating a guaranteed income pilot program in San Francisco.
“The pandemic has underscored the economic vulnerability of so many of our residents struggling to afford food and basic necessities,” said Supervisor Matt Haney, who introduced the legislation proposing the advisory group. “Cash payments are a way to directly address poverty.”
The proposal is unlikely to provide immediate relief, however. The proposed advisory group has one year to complete its study and present it to the board and Mayor London Breed.
The advisory group would design a guaranteed income pilot program for between 500 and 1,000 residents, recommend a target population and identify sources of funding, according to Haney’s legislation. Under the current proposal, those targeted for funding would be provided $ 500 each month that they could spend without constraints.
Haney called localized universal basic income “a radical but simple idea” to support the city’s most vulnerable community members. He cited San Francisco’s Abundant Birth Project, which provides nostringsattached funding to disadvantaged expectant mothers, as just one example of the idea’s growing appeal.
The Abundant Birth Project, launched in September, is not the only Bay Area experiment with nostringsattached payments. Since February 2019 the city of Stockton has given 125 residents $ 500 a month and tracked the payments’ impact on recipients’ lives. The initiative found big backers among tech industry heavyweights, but the mayor who proposed the experiment, Michael Tubbs, lost his bid for reelection.
More than 25 mayors around the country, including Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, have signaled their support for guaranteed income, but pilot projects like the one in Stockton — and the proposed one in San Francisco — are rare. Haney acknowledged the roadblocks.
“There is still a lot to figure out in how to design it effectively and where to target” the aid, he said.
If approved Tuesday, the advisory group would create six unpaid appointments to be filled by experts in the field, social services providers and one city resident “who has personally experienced poverty.” City employees would fill three additional seats.