Somerville is looking at how to continue a guaranteed basic income test launched in July by Mayor Katjana Ballantyne that gives 200 families a stipend of $750 each month for a year for them to spend how they wish – including to help maintain security in an increasingly expensive housing market.
The initial $1.8 million for the stipends came from a $77.5 million total the city received from the American Rescue Plan Act, a federal program that gave cities money to recover economically from the Covid pandemic.
The city is unsure how a guaranteed basic income pilot would be funded after the federal money runs out. “At this stage, we are still very much planning and researching options,” said Erica Satin-Hernandez, who handles the distribution of the Arpa money for Somerville, to city councillors at their Oct. 24 meeting.
At that meeting the council approved a mayoral request for $68,228 more to go to the University of Massachusetts at Boston to administer the pilot program and research its impact. With the 15-month extension, the total to the school will now be $484,132, according to a draft copy of the contact.
The extension will help “understand what it would take to expand the program,” council vice president Judy Pineda Neufeld said in a call Monday.
There are two centers at UMass Boston involved with this project. One is the Center for Social Policy, which studies how policies can have an impact on individuals’ economic security. The other is the Collins Center for Public Management, which was founded by the state Legislature to help municipalities improve efficiency and effectiveness. The pilot program will evaluate how it improved participants’ housing stability and other factors, such as health and food security, bit also look at the feasibility if continuing the program.
Somerville is part of a growing trend of cities offering guaranteed income payments to their poorest residents, including nearby Chelsea.
Cambridge began in 2021 with an 18-month test, giving $500 monthly to 120 lower-income households with kids; eligible households were selected by lottery. Rise Up Cambridge, a follow-up starting in July 2023, ended the lottery and grew to 1,923 families, or about 6,400 people, getting the cash payments. Eligibility included all households with children ages 21 and under earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty line.
In Somerville, families specifically struggling with housing insecurity were selected by the Office of Housing Stability and the Somerville Public Schools.
As in Somerville, Cambridge wants to extend its basic-income program, but officials acknowledged in September they aren’t sure how to pay for it. That city was able to expand the starter Rise Up basic-income program that inspired Somerville’s with donations from various organizations, including universities and real estate developers, and Satin-Hernandez said local funding could be pursued in Somerville too.
Not treating program participants as passive recipients was described as important by Somerville council members. “I just wish to emphasize that the planning on the completion of the program or the next steps of the program are made with the participants, and not only for the participants. That we are not speaking on behalf of our residents, that we’re speaking with our residents as well,” councillor Kristen Strezo said.
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