(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The city of Evanston is rolling out the second year of its Guaranteed Income Program. A total of 150 low-income residents will get money from a pool of $900,000 in federal funds.
Those who qualify and win a lottery receive 500 dollars a month, no strings attached.
For the first phase, recipients could live anywhere in the city. This time they’ll be limited to one section of the Fifth Ward, where there’s a concentration of children living in poverty.
Applicants must have a child who’s five or younger and a family income at or below 184% of the federal poverty level. That’s about $57,000 per year for a family of four.
Alison Leipsiger, the city’s Policy Manager, told Evanston Now, the more narrow focus allows the city to help an area which, because of redlining, “has seen divestment over the years.”
It could also cut down on the number of unqualified applicants.
Last year, word of the program spread on-line. More than 2,000 applicants weren’t qualified as many applied from outside the city, including from other countries.
Leipsiger suspects many just didn’t read the specifics and figured it was “free money.”
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