CityLab Daily: A Look at How Far Basic Income Has Come
Also today: What a national guaranteed income could look like, and the biggest payoff from Stockton’s basic income program: jobs.
Los Angeles City Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, greets constituent Quiana Gomez after announcing the city's new guaranteed basic income pilot program. Such programs have grown in popularity during the pandemic.
Photographer: Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times
The idea of a basic income has gained traction over the last few years, with at least 20 local guaranteed income pilots having launched across the U.S. since 2018. Once considered radical, the concept of giving cash to some residents with none of the traditional strings of welfare attached is moving into the mainstream. Sixty mayors have joined a coalition to advocate for the policies, and least a half-dozen more pilots promise to launch next year, Sarah Holder reports.
But the local programs are small and temporary, and the push for a federal guaranteed income policy has not yet succeeded. The fate of the closest thing to it — the child tax credit — hangs in the balance.