A study conducted by USC and a San Francisco nonprofit explored how someone living on the streets or in a car would spend a $750 monthly stipend.
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100 people took part in the research. KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian spoke to Ben Henwood, a professor at USC who led the experiment, about the results.
“We see a broad range of, I mean, people really have a lot of different kinds of needs. When we did the pilot program for this, one of the first recipients who got the money, the first thing she did was actually donate her check to charity,” he said.
Henwood said it was actions like this that may surprise some people. He said everybody’s trying to find their own pathway out of homelessness.
“Some people just felt that they were now able to reach out to family or friends and find accommodation because now they could contribute a little bit to the rent,” Henwood explained.
The study shows that the money was used on different things, like car repairs. Someone even used it to fix their bike and started delivering for Doordash. But the number one thing people used the money for was food.
The study found that about 2% of the money was used on cigarettes and alcohol.
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