CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed a pilot program Monday giving a guaranteed monthly income to thousands of low-income Chicago families, part of the city's proposed $16.7 billion spending plan that relies on an infusion of federal relief funds to close budget gaps for several years.
Mayor Lightfoot said the proposed $31.5 million cash assistance program as a way to help "hard-hit, low income households in need of additional economic stability.” It would provide $500 monthly payments to 5,000 low-income households for a year.
“This cash benefit plan for our residents, if approved, will be the largest in the history of the United States,” Lightfoot said Monday in her budget speech.
The idea of a guaranteed income for low-income families is not new. It has been discussed before in Chicago, including earlier this year by Alderman Gilbert Villegas. Similar pilot efforts, called universal basic income, have been tested elsewhere, including in California and New York.
Related
The former mayor of Stockton, California told Chicago alderman a few months ago that $500 payments to low-income families in his city have been helpful.
Meanwhile, after Mayor Lightfoot proposed the pilot program, Alderman Villegas criticized the Lightfoot administration for being slow to introduce a plan and tweeted, "Imitation is the greatest form of flattery."