Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is taking a bold stand against poverty and potential economic recovery for his city. He’s proposing a guaranteed basic income pilot program that would give 2,000 Angeleno families at or below the federal poverty level $1,000 a month for one year -- with no conditions attached.
The money would come from the $24 million “BIG: LEAP” program, aka Basic Income Guaranteed: L.A. Economic Assistance Pilot.
"We have to end America's addiction to poverty," Garcetti said in an exclusive interview with LAist. "For families who can't think past the next bill, the next shift or the next health problem that they have, we can give them the space to not only dream of a better life, but to actualize it."
How the 2,000 families will be chosen is still in the works, but according to LAist, it will include supporting a child under 18, and a demonstrated medical or financial hardship connected to COVID-19.
The program will include anyone, regardless of immigration status.
"This pandemic has thrown everything up in the air," Garcetti said. "This is an America willing to say, If we were so good, why did so many people die? Why was it so disproportionate in certain communities? And if we're not as good as we thought we were, how can we become better?"
The Mayor’s new proposal is part of the "Equity and Justice Budget" the Garcetti is expected to discuss in his State of the City speech Monday evening, which will also include a sharp increase in spending on housing and homelessness programs -- nearly $1 billion -- according to the Los Angeles Times.
Garcetti is set to proopose $791 million in the upcoming budget year for initiatives to help homeless residents, increase cleanups around shelters and expand programs aimed at keeping housed Angelenos from slipping into homelessness themselves, mayoral aides told the LA Times. Additionally, he will use the $160 million allocated for homelessness programs in the current year but has not yet been spent.