Alexandria, Virginia residents will soon get their first batch of $500 UBI payments from a new program.
From a pool of 4,159 candidates, 170 Virginians were selected for the ARISE program, and they should receive funding soon.
Who Can Apply For UBI Payments?
The city was unable to provide a particular date but confirmed that it plans to deliver funds in February.
MoCaFi, which will also issue debit-like cards in collaboration with the City of Alexandria, will disperse the funds. Please note that participants will not need a bank account to collect their funds.
The effort, also known as the Alexandria Recurring Income for Success and Equity, is a pilot study that pays $500 over 24 months to the city’s most financially disadvantaged individuals.
The funds are provided by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which was passed by Congress and signed into law in March 2021. The participants were selected at random, with notification expected in December.
There are no limits, so recipients are free to spend the money any way they like. To be eligible, the ARISE website indicates that you must:
- Be a resident of Alexandria who is at least 18 years old
- Your household income must be at or below 50% of the median income for the area (AMI).
All household members above the age of 18 are included in the family’s income. Income comprises earned wages plus financial assistance such as SSI, SSDI, TANF, and child support.
A home consists of a group of people who live together and eat meals together. The threshold is $49,850 for one-person households and $71,150 for four-person households.
Visit the ARISE website to discover any income restrictions. They will get a one-time payment of $1,500 within one month.
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UBI Payments May Ease Poverty In US
Universal basic income, or UBI, is described by the Basic Income Earth Network as “a monthly cash payment unconditionally distributed to everybody on an individual basis, without means testing or labor requirement.”
The child tax credit differs in that it is limited to families with children; it fades out at higher income levels; and it still requires people to demonstrate that they are “poor enough” to need assistance through a means test.
A more ambitious plan sponsored by Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Mondaine Jones that approaches the concept of UBI would abolish the means test, therefore providing a universal child allowance. Universal benefits offer various advantages over means-tested benefits.
They remove the stigma associated with targeted assistance by avoiding distinctions between “we” and “them.” When stigma and regulatory impediments are removed, use by the needy, a chronic problem with targeted benefits, improves.
Universal benefits are often more popular and, as a result, more politically stable and well-supported. In addition, universal benefits are easier to provide since they do not need means of testing. The universal child allowance would enroll all children at birth, excluding no kid.
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