Chicago’s $31.5 million guaranteed income pilot program has kicked off with slightly more than 5,000 households receiving their first payments, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Tuesday.
Most of the recipients are women, about 7 in 10, and a majority are Black. Participating households’ median annual income is $14,000, according to a news release on the program.
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Dubbed the Resilient Communities pilot, the recipients were selected by lottery from more than 176,000 applicants earlier this year and are receiving $500 a month for 12 months.
“Through the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, we are ensuring our communities can access financial assistance to meet their most essential needs,” Lightfoot said in the release. “Moreover, the pilot reinforces our belief that each of our residents, regardless of their income or ZIP code, deserves the opportunity to support themselves and provide for their family.”
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Eligibility included being an adult resident of Chicago, having suffered economic hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic and earning at most 250% of the federal poverty line.
The city said 71.1% of recipients are women, while 75.6% live in an economically distressed community, 62.5% are caregivers, 9% are homeless or experiencing housing instability and 60.2% live in poverty, with 36.7% earning below 50% of the federal poverty line.
In addition, 68.3% of recipients are Black, 23.5% are Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% are white and 3.4% are Asian, the city said.
The median household size of pilot participants is two, and the median age is 39. More than three-quarters are renters, and the most common COVID-19 impacts they suffered have been lost wages or chronic unemployment, with more than one-third of them experiencing at least one of those issues.
Some were laid off as a result of the pandemic, left work to be a caregiver or suffered COVID-19-related medical costs. The most common form of government aid the participants receive is Supplemental Nutrition Assisting Program (SNAP), with 58% of them part of the food stamp program.
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Chicago’s South and West sides have the highest concentration of residents enrolled in the guaranteed income pilot, while the downtown and Far Northwest Side neighborhoods had the least.
With these initial funds out, Chicago has joined the contingent of American cities that have warmed up to the concept of guaranteed income. Once deemed a pipe dream in mainstream politics, the idea of handing cash directly to those in need has particularly gained steam during the coronavirus-fueled recession, when most Americans saw multiple rounds of stimulus checks and other temporary social safety net expansions.
The idea has been floated before the pandemic as well, and by now more than 100 U.S. cities have signed on to some kind of cash assistant pilot, according to the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income coalition, which was founded by former Stockton, California, Mayor Micheal Tubbs. Chicago touts its pilot program as one of the country’s largest.
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