Austin joins at least 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried out some form of “guaranteed income” — financial assistance targeted at needy households.
Highlights
- The Austin City Council voted Thursday to establish a pilot program to give low-income families $1,000 per month for a year.
- The city will send checks to 85 families at risk of losing their homes.
- The program will be a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that clears a key vote Thursday.
- The idea came out of efforts to rework how the city tackles public safety in the wake of protests over police brutality in 2020.
- Some council members voiced concerns about the relative lack of details about the program and questioned whether it was a good idea for Austin to use local tax dollars to fund the program, rather than letting the federal government or nonprofits take the lead.