According to the Stanford Basic Income Lab, universal basic income is a periodic cash payment that is given to individuals unconditionally, requiring no work requirement or sanctions to access.
And as various nonprofits and cities across the country experiment with basic income programs, most have found that the money received is largely used to pay for the basic essentials many Americans struggle to afford.
A new pilot program in Boston, Massachusetts wants to find out if the same trend applies for a specific demographic: young adults facing homelessness.
The program is called BAY-CASH, or Boston Area Youth Cash Assistance for Stable Housing. Their plan is to offer a select group of 15 young adults ages 18 to 24 $1,200 per month for 24 months.
Each month, they will receive two $600 payments, and they will each have access to a one-time drawdown amount of $3,000, used to pay for things like a security deposit, a car repair, a medical expense, or other crisis.
“BAY-CASH is what we call a demonstration program,” the program’s director Matt Aronson told GBH, the local NPR affiliate.
Aronson has been working on developing a model for direct cash transfers to address young adult homelessness since 2017, when he also co-led the development of the City of Boston’s plan to prevent and end homelessness among young adults. Finally, his vision has reached a crucial next step.
“We’re trying to demonstrate to the state of Massachusetts that this kind of programming, a guaranteed-income program with supportive services, should be part of our toolkit that we use to prevent and end homelessness for young adults,” he continued to GBH.
Program participants will also receive two and a half years of supportive services, like a navigator who helps young people identify and access the resources they need, as well as financial coaching.
Aronson added that there is no penalty if a participant doesn’t use them, but they were built into the program based on the services young people asked for.
One of those young people is Deandre (who chose to omit his last name for privacy). Having grown up in Boston, he was out on his own, but after coming on hard times, he found himself involved in a few youth homelessness programs. That’s where he found out about BAY-CASH.
“I heard about … potentially getting cash payments to help with all the necessary things I have to go through on a regular basis,” he told GBH. “I was absolutely ecstatic.”
He told GBH that he plans to use the money to access food, clean clothes, and rent and housing expenses when he eventually has a place of his own again. He also hopes to one day save up to buy a car so he doesn’t have to rely on the city’s bus system.
The flexibility for him to choose how to spend the money is a key component to what Aronson believes is the magic of guaranteed income.
“Current homelessness resources for young adults in Massachusetts are scarce, can be slow to deploy and inflexible, and often lead to inequitable outcomes for historically and systemically oppressed populations,” BAY-CASH shares on its website.
“[We are] trusting that young people know their needs and communities better than anyone else.”
Aronson added that the pilot program will provide the state with more evidence to consider something “a little bit more flexible than what they’ve developed,” and ensure that a budget would be available to enact something similar in other regions of the state.
Right now, the pilot program is being funded by private donors and foundations, along with the city of Cambridge via a one-time cash infusion, and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
The hope, Aronson said, is that this program proves its efficacy for the long haul.
“There’s some skepticism around and moralizing why folks are poor, why folks who are experiencing homelessness that causes us to suspect, ‘Oh, they must be wasting their money,’” Aronson said. “Over and over, the evidence is consistent that folks use these to meet their basic needs.”
For Deandre, who has dreams of someday becoming an architect, the program represents something greater.
“Just because we’re experiencing homelessness doesn’t mean it has to be a barrier for us to stop living our lives and that we can’t escape it,” he told GBH.
“With more programs such as BAY-CASH and with more people spreading awareness about the issues that are going on in our community … it’s all about making sure that the next person doesn’t have to experience what you’ve had to experience. It’s about doing what you can to eradicate homelessness, and I think that should be everyone’s ultimate goal.”
Header image courtesy of Alexander Mils on Unsplash
