Guaranteed basic income programs proliferate across California

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Beginning Monday, 150 households in Fresno County are expected to receive a $500 prepaid card to spend on anything they’d like — no strings attached. It will be the first of 12 monthly recurring payments those Southwest Fresno and Huron residents will receive as part of a guaranteed basic income program for low-income families.

For Andy Levine, an advisor at the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission that is handling the financial disbursements, it marks a big milestone. In 2022, the state launched its own $25 million guaranteed income pilot program , but no region in the Central Valley, including Fresno County, was selected to participate. That’s despite 20% of the county living below the federal poverty line — almost double the percentage for California overall.

Levine was “genuinely surprised and disappointed” that Fresno didn’t make the cut . But after philanthropic organizations stepped in, the commission raised about $1 million to launch the program . Researchers at Fresno State will study the effect the money will have on families, which similar programs have shown to improve health, reduce stress and can lead to full-time employment, according to Levine. They’ll also analyze the impact on the families’ children, and whether the money helps improve early childhood outcomes and boost parental involvement .

• Levine: “You can spend some money on the front end to provide stability. Or you can pay extra in public services for the consequences for people not having enough. Is it more cost effective to just provide people … what they need to be productive, self-sustaining and resilient?”

Other regions in the state are also experimenting with guaranteed income programs. Sacramento County’s Department of Child, Family and Adult Services is planning a year-long pilot with money from a $7.3 million state block grant. It will give $725 a month to 200 Black, American Indian and Alaska Native families living below the federal poverty level.

And in Pomona, applications closed earlier this week for a program that will give $250 eligible residents 18 monthly payments of $500.

Sean Kline, the former director of the Stanford Basic Income Lab and current advisor to a behavioral science nonprofit, says basic income programs have proliferated in the last four years in California because of the convergence of three factors: decades of widening income disparities, the pandemic’s impact on economic inequalities and a public urgency to address racial injustice following the 2020 murder of George Floyd.

These programs have the potential to influence state and federal policies, according to Kline, not only because they give cash directly to those who need it with little bureaucratic red tape, but also because they can reshape harmful narratives about poverty. Giving money unconditionally signals a sense of trust to a population whose spending decisions are often heavily scrutinized, said Kline.

• Kline: “We give tremendous tax benefits to the middle- and upper-class. The mortgage interest on my house, I can deduct. And no one is asking me how I’m spending that money or to provide a urine sample. We have a tremendous double standard here.”

For the record: In Thursday’s newsletter item about a labor dispute between The Wonderful Company and the United Farm Workers union, the company clarifies that it has been bargaining with the UFW as required by state law.

Focus on inequality : Each Friday, the California Divide team delivers a newsletter that focuses on the politics and policy of inequality. Read an edition and subscribe .

Other Stories You Should Know

Housing from health care companies?

The next time you pass by a new homeless housing site, there’s a small chance that those homes weren’t built by an affordable housing nonprofit or other traditional source. Instead, it could have been built by a health care company , writes CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall .

After a 16-unit homeless housing project by the Kern County Housing Authority ran over budget, Akido Labs — which runs clinics and street medicine teams in Southern and Central California — stepped in to cover about 10% of the project, or about $3 million. Akido is also paying 20% of another Bakersfield homeless housing project, which costs $10 million total, includes 40 units and is expected to open in 2025.

The merging of California’s health care and homeless services agencies isn’t entirely unexpected. It’s widely accepted that homelessness is bad for your health: Unhoused people are sicker, die younger on average than the general U.S. population and homeless residents in their 50s and 60s more closely resemble people 20 years older.

In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom honed in the notion further when he overhauled the state’s Medicaid system by launching CalAIM, a state program that provides Medi-Cal patients with broader health services , such as behavioral health and supportive housing services.

To pay for these projects, health care companies are using funds the state provided under the Housing and Homelessness Incentive Program. But this money is a one-time grant and lawmakers, including Newsom, have made no indication that the funds will be replenished when it runs out.

Learn more about these housing projects in Marisa’s story.

Deaf people struggle for work in CA

With the state having the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. for the past four months, it’s tough finding work in California. And for deaf people living in the state, the challenges can be even greater .

As CalMatters’ community college reporter Adam Echelman explains, the unemployment rate for deaf Californians is about the same as it is for the hearing population. But a larger percentage of deaf adults are neither working nor looking for work, according to a recent study by the National Center for the Deaf .

The reasons for this are complex, as there are “larger systemic barriers at play,” said the study’s author. State and federal disability law require employers to make “reasonable” accommodations for deaf employees, but what’s considered reasonable depends on the size of the company.

Deaf people often must take jobs that require little person-to-person communication, or their employers must hire a sign language interpreter, which can cost more than a hundred dollars an hour. And once hired, some deaf adults say they struggle to get promoted or develop a sense of belonging.

It took a year and a half for Lisa Peterson to land a part-time job at FedEx, where she earns about $18 an hour. Earlier this year, she spoke to Adam through an interpreter describing the challenges of her job search.

• Peterson: “I’ve been really just trying to prove that I can work. … I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. Is there something wrong with me? Is there something wrong with them?”

For more on the issue, read Adam’s story . And be sure to watch CalMatters’ videos featuring Peterson and Drez Brownridge , another deaf resident who struggled to attain a promotion at Amazon.

California Voices

California Voices deputy editor Denise Amos: This summer, low-income parents will receive federal aid towards feeding their children. But will the program face similar challenges as one that left $1 billion unspent during the pandemic for Californians ?

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters is away.

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