Americans can get $500 for 18 months but you must meet 3 criteria to receive the first check in April

AMERICAN families could get up to $500 per month as part of a guaranteed income program in Texas.

About 1,900 low-income households will be randomly selected from a pool of applicants to receive 18 months of payment.

Over 28,500 Houston-area residents applied for the county program, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Payments will start going out in April, county officials told the local paper.

Selected applicants will be notified of the impending payments by February 26.

PAYMENT PLANNING

Harris County, which contains Houston, launched the program to combat poverty.

Billed as Uplift Harris and spearheaded by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, the pilot program will distribute money from a $20.5 million pot.

Funding came from the American Rescue Plan, the Biden administration’s ambitious stimulus package passed in 2021 as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

State Republicans have questioned the legality of the program, but it’s set to go ahead as planned, the Chronicle reported.

The payment plan, which aims to distribute the federal dollars without strings attached, applies to 10 high-poverty zip codes in the area:

• 77026
• 77028
• 77033
• 77050
• 77051
• 77060
• 77081
• 77091
• 77093
• 77547

The money will only go out to those whose income falls below 200% of the Federal poverty line.

Finally, applicants had to be 18 years of age or older.

Harris County is not the only government distributing public dollars in guaranteed income programs.

Similar programs have rolled out across the country, often targeting vulnerable populations like new parents or retirees.

A $4 million county program in Maryland is giving DC-area residents hundreds in payments.

Prince George’s County will pay 175 former foster children and elderly residents.

Some activists and economists have called for an even broader payout program: universal basic income.

A government payment to everyone, while expensive, would resolve one of the main critiques of welfare programs — which take benefits away from those who work to make additional income.

A system like this exists in Alaska, where the constitution requires the state’s mineral and oil wealth to be distributed to its residents.

Recently, Alaskans have been getting checks of $1,312 from the program.

In Southern California, some new parents are getting money.

A new housing lottery is selling homes for just $1 in New Jersey.