The Denver Basic Income Project aims to combat poverty and homelessness in the city by providing a monthly basic income. Getty Images
The Denver Basic Income Project is to be extended and receive further financial support.
The project offers Denver’s poorest residents up to $1,000 per month.
According to the project, $6.5 million (around six million euros) has already been paid out to residents since its launch in November 2022.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by an editor.
A guaranteed basic income plan in Denver that offers some residents up to $1,000 a month is being extended after new investments from the city and other organizations.
The Denver Basic Income Project, which currently provides monthly payments to 800 of the city’s lowest-income households, has announcedthat it will extend its term by another six months.
The city of Denver has provided four million US dollars (approximately 3.6 million euros) to the project since its launch. Now a three million dollar donation (around 2.8 million euros) from the Colorado Trust and a donation from an anonymous foundation are helping the organization to continue its work „Axios“ reported.
The project’s founder and executive director, Mark Donovan, said he was “thrilled” about the expansion and proud of the “significant impact” the project has had on the city since its launch in 2022.
“Many participants reported using the money to pay off debt, repair their car, secure an apartment or take a course,” Donovan told Business Insider (BI). “These are all pathways that could eventually lift participants out of poverty and allow them to be less dependent on social support programs.”
Dia Broncucia, 53, and Justin Searls, 45, told BI that they signed up for the program after becoming homeless during Broncucia’s battle with breast cancer. The $6,500 they both received upfront helped the couple rent an apartment, buy a car and stabilize their lives, they said.
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The Denver Basic Income Project said in a statement that more participants are living in rental or condominiums and fewer participants are sleeping outside than when the project began. It refers to one Study des Center for Housing and Homelessness Research der Universität Denver.
Many cities across the United States are experimenting with basic income projects to combat homelessness and support their most vulnerable residents. In Baltimore, for example, the Baltimore Young Families Success Fund gives young mothers up to $1,000 a month. The campaign’s policy director, Tonaeya Moore, told BI that surveys show participants largely spend their money on the same general needs, such as bills, rent and groceries.
But while basic income plans have been largely successful, not everyone supports them, and many programs have drawn the ire of conservative lawmakers.
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Last week, a Texas state senator called unconstitutional a guaranteed income program in Harris County, which includes Houston, that provides $500 a month to the region’s poorest residents. In Iowa, two Republican lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban universal guaranteed income plans in the state, calling it “socialism on steroids.”
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, wrote in support of the project, calling it an “important tool” in the fight against homelessness.
“This initiative complements our efforts to expand affordable housing, mental health services and other critical resources to prevent and alleviate homelessness in Denver,” Johnson wrote. “I am proud to support the Denver Basic Income Project and its important role in our ongoing efforts to combat homelessness and improve the lives of our residents.”
Read the original article Business Insider.