Harris County, Texas, officials are set to alert applicants selected for its pilot basic income program in the coming weeks.
Roughly 83,000 people applied for the Uplift Harris program, and the county will notify those selected for the program by Feb. 26, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The program offers 1,928 recipients $500 payments for 18 months, beginning in April. The $20.5 million allocated for the program is provided through the American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March 2021.
“Reducing poverty and helping families who are struggling to meet basic needs should not be a political debate,” Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement, per the outlet. “Our community is experiencing poverty at rates higher than other communities in Texas and around the nation, and we as county leaders have a duty to do everything we can to address it.”
The program is only funded for 18 months, but county officials say they want “long-term sustainability and gradual expansion” for the program in the future.
“We’ll be looking into how we can fund this program long-term and hopefully help even more families in the future,” Hidalgo said.
The program was approved by the Harris County Commissioners Court in June 2023, with applications for the program being open earlier this year through Feb. 2.
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The program is open to those who are 200% below the federal poverty line and live in one of the county’s “high-poverty ZIP codes,” or those who are in the county’s Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self Sufficiency and have an income that is 200% below the federal poverty line.
Several states and jurisdictions have tested out and implemented basic income programs with mixed results.