In the coming week, officials in Harris County, Texas, will alert applicants who have been chosen for its pilot basic income program for low-income individuals in parts of the county.
Last week, officials in the county said the Uplift Harris program had roughly 83,000 applicants and confirmed that it will notify those selected for the payments by Feb. 26, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“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 last week. “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.”
Residents who are 200% below the federal poverty line and live in one of Harris 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 200% below the federal poverty line were among those eligible to apply for the pilot program when applications were open earlier this year.
Harris County officials say the program will give 1,928 recipients $500 payments for 18 months, with the first payment going out in April.
The program is funded with an allocated $20.5 million from the American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March 2021. The program currently has a limited timetable, but officials have expressed a desire to have “long-term sustainability and gradual expansion” for the future of the program.
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“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 in June 2023 by the Harris County Commissioners Court, with applications being open for roughly a month earlier this year. Several cities and states across the country have tested out basic income programs with mixed results.