Officials in Harris County, Texas, will alert low-income applicants who have been selected for its pilot basic income program within the next five days.
The Uplift Harris program had roughly 83,000 applicants, and officials announced last week that they would tell those chosen for the pilot program by Monday, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Those eligible for the program include either 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.
“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.”
The pilot program will give 1,928 recipients $500 payments for 18 months, with the first payment going out in April, according to Harris County officials.
The 18 months of payments from the program will be funded with $20.5 million allocated from the American Rescue Plan, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March 2021. Officials are hoping to create “long-term sustainability and gradual expansion” for 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 Harris County Commissioners Court approved the program in June 2023. Various cities and states have tested basic guaranteed income programs with differing results.