Another US community is joining the ranks of communities across the country that have set aside funds to provide regular stimulus checks to some of their people over a prolonged period.
This time, the city is Palm Springs, California. Its municipal council has set aside just under a quarter-million dollars to offer $900 installments for up to 18 months. Residents who identify as transgender or nonbinary would be among the recipients.
Notably, there would be no strings linked to the payments, making this another basic income experiment. That is, over several months. That’s yet another way of describing a steady stream of stimulus funds.
Check the stimulus in 2022
The Palm Springs City Council decided unanimously to put aside $200,000 to cover the payments in recent days. Which, by the way, will only be distributed to those who fall below a certain poverty level.
According to Fox News, 20 Palm Springs residents will distribute the taxpayer-funded reimbursements. DAP Health, an advocacy-based health facility, and Queer Works, an LGBT advocacy group, will also be in charge of this program. According to the two organizations, the city’s initial financial contribution will enable both groups to investigate the best practices of successful initiatives around the country, according to a news release.
The national agency Mayors for a Guaranteed Income also provides pilot design help to the organizations.
“We hope that the pilot we build will motivate the City of Palm Springs to join forces with DAP Health and other donors to bring major state financing to Palm Springs,” DAP Health CEO David Brinkman said. We hope that our pilot will demonstrate that providing guaranteed income is a cost-effective strategy to achieve great results.” “Our goal is to create a model with the largest possible influence on as many people as feasible.”
Payments of a basic income
Following the collapse of support in the Senate at the end of 2021, stimulus check payments at the federal level dried up, and these types of projects at the municipal level have emerged as a form of replacement.
Several cities across the country have been experimenting with their own versions of this. For example, in Newark, New Jersey, a basic income program was recently expanded to 400 residents. Over two years, each member will receive a total of $12,000. The participants are low-income and must demonstrate suffering due to the Covid epidemic.
Read More:- Goodbye, Stimulus: Nearly Half of Americans Now Feel Financial Insecurity
Another example is Los Angeles’ new “Breathe” guaranteed income program. Participants will receive $1,000 each month for three years in this one. Participants are free to use the money as they like.
Read More:- Americans Cannot Afford an Emergency Without the Financial Security of Stimulus Checks.
“While the benefits of guaranteed income programs have been documented,” the program’s website states, “this will also be an independent research project that will be used to study the effects of this type of program so that (Los Angeles County) and other jurisdictions can learn about the project’s impact on participants’ overall health and well-being.”
Read More:- $1,200 in Stimulus Checks Grew to $7,285 in Value.
