Low-income families in Oakland, California, could be receiving a $500 guaranteed income per month.
What We Know:
- Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced this week that the city of Oakland would be launching a project to give hundreds of Black and Indigenous families and other people of color $500 per month for 18 months. The project, called The Oakland Resilient Families program, is designed to combat poverty issues in the area.
“The poverty we all witness today is not a personal failure, it is a systems failure. Guaranteed income is one of the most promising tools for systems change, racial equity and economic mobility we’ve seen in decades,” Schaaf said in a statement.
- According to CNN, all of the money received will not be considered taxable income and will allow undocumented and/or unsheltered individuals to qualify. The project’s payments will be unconditional, allowing recipients to spend the money however they choose.
- Families who apply for the funds must have at least one child under 18, and their income must be at or below the area’s median income of $59,000 for a family of three. Half of the available spots will be saved for very low-income families, who earn below 138% of the federal poverty level, which is about $30,000 per year for a family of three. Those who are interested in applying will be given an online multilingual screening form that will be made available this spring and summer. Recipients will be chosen at random to receive the funds.
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The project uses the Oakland Equality Index to target groups with the city’s greatest wealth disparities. The index reveals the median income for White households in Oakland is nearly three times that of Black households.
Oakland will join cities like Stockton, California, Newark, New Jersey, and Atlanta, Georgia, in providing low-income residents with guaranteed income.
