Can putting money directly in the hands of people experiencing homelessness make a difference? According to a new California study on basic income, it suggests it can.
Professor Ben Henwood from USC partnered with Miracle Messages, providing $750 per month for a year to 103 people in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles County. The six-month report is preliminary, but Henwood said the findings provide insight into ways to help address the problem.
“They’re just segments of the population given the income disparities, that despite having jobs and working, they’re not making enough to just afford basic needs, and they’re getting priced out of the housing market,” he said.
Miracle Messages CEO and founder Kevin F. Adler said the $2.1 million study grew out of a pilot program from the nonprofit that gave 14 unhoused people $500 per month. In that study, he said the donated funds allowed two-thirds of the people to secure housing.
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“We’ve seen most of the money being spent on a mix of housing and food security,” noted Adler. “Additionally, some individuals have used the funds for family emergencies, child care, and other essential needs.”
None of the funding for this study came from the government, Henwood noted. Google’s nonprofit arm, Kimberly Lynch, Scott Layne, and the Homeless Policy Research Institute funded the study.
Over 750 people were enrolled in the new study, and 103 were randomly selected to be eligible for the $750 a month.
On average, participants were 47 years old, with 78% being minorities. “In many ways, they resembled the overall homeless population here in Los Angeles in terms of their demographic breakdown,” Henwood added.
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Nearly a third of the people in the study used the money for food, and approximately 20% allocated it for housing. About 11% to 12% used the funds for clothing and transportation, while 6% used it for healthcare.
Additionally, 13% used the money for other miscellaneous expenses, as determined by the research group.
Henwood said the funds enabled people to be more resourceful; they fixed broken vehicles, caught up on debt, and purchased memberships to sustain their lives.
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“It was a lot of different resourcefulness, but, for some people, it helped them become more financially independent, using those funds to put themselves in a better situation,” he said.
The greatest change was the number of people who left shelters and could secure housing because of the program. Of the 30% who started the program unsheltered, only 12% remained unsheltered at the six-month point.
“The money has reduced the number of unsheltered, the time unsheltered and made it so people have less food insecurity,” Adler said.
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