Some of the poorest families in Los Angeles received a cash grant of $1,000 a month as part of a 12-month pilot project that was launched nearly three years ago. There were no strings attached and they could use the money however they wanted.
Now, a new study concludes that the city-funded program was overwhelmingly beneficial.
According to an analysis co-authored by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA, program participants experienced a range of economic benefits. Additionally, the study concluded that the initiative gave people the time and space to make more profound changes in their lives, such as getting better jobs, leaving unsafe living conditions and escaping abusive relationships.
“If you’re stuck in financial scarcity, you’re also stuck in time scarcity,” Dr. Amy Castro, co-founder of the Guaranteed Income Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania, told The Times. “There’s no time for yourself; there’s no time for your kids, your neighbors, or anyone else.”
The Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot Program, or BIG:LEAP, provided $38.4 million in city funds to 3,200 residents who were pregnant or had at least one child, living at or below the federal poverty level and experiencing COVID-19-related hardships. Participants were randomly selected from about 50,000 applicants and received payments over 12 months beginning in 2022.
Castro and his colleagues teamed up with researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health to compare the experiences of participants in the Los Angeles randomized control trial — the nation’s first large-scale guaranteed income pilot using public funds — with those of nearly 5,000 people who did not receive the unconditional money.
Researchers found that participants reported a significant increase in their savings and were more likely to be able to cover a $400 emergency during and after the program. Guaranteed income recipients were also more likely to be employed full- or part-time, or to be looking for work, rather than unemployed and not looking for work, according to the study.
“Instead of taking the first job that came available, which might not have been a lasting and family-friendly option, [the participants were] “I’m saying, ‘Wait a minute, I have a moment to sit down, think, breathe and think about where I want my family to be,’” said Dr. Stacia West, also co-founder of the Guaranteed Income Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
In a city with sky-high rents, participants reported that guaranteed income served as “a preventative measure against homelessness,” according to the report, helping them offset rental costs and serving as a buffer while they waited for other types of housing support.
The analysis also found that the incidence of intimate partner violence was prevented or reduced by allowing people and their children to leave and find other housing. Intimate partner violence is an intractable social problem, Castro said, so seeing improvements with just 12 months of funding is a “pretty extraordinary change.”
People who had struggled to maintain their health due to inflexible or erratic work schedules and a lack of child care reported that guaranteed income provided the safety net they needed to maintain healthier behaviors, the report said. They said they slept better, exercised more, resumed taking needed medications and sought mental health therapy for themselves and their children.
Compared with those who did not receive cash, guaranteed income recipients were more likely to enroll their children in sports and clubs during and after the pilot program.
Los Angeles resident Ashley Davis appeared at a news conference Tuesday to discuss the study’s results and said her health improved because she was able to buy fruits, vegetables and smoothies. Before, she was prediabetic and “my cholesterol was through the roof,” Davis said.
“I was neglecting my own needs,” said Davis, who described herself as a single mother of a child with special needs. She changed careers and is now studying to be a nurse, she said.
Abigail Marquez, general manager of the Department of Community Investment for Families, which helped oversee BIG:LEAP, said she has spent 20 years working on various anti-poverty programs.
“I can say with confidence that this is by far the most transformative program,” Marquez said.
BIG:LEAP was one of the largest of more than 150 guaranteed income pilot programs launched across the country in recent years. The program was funded through the city budget and included 11 million dollars that city leaders moved funds from the Police Department's budget in response to nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.
Despite positive research findings, programs like BIG:LEAP have raised concerns among some taxpayer groups.
“It is simply wrong for city government to take tax money earned and paid by people who are trying to pay their own bills and transfer that money to other people chosen by the government to receive it,” the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said in a statement. “Guaranteed income programs are properly funded on a voluntary basis by charities and foundations, not forced through the tax code.”
Councilman Curren Price, whose South Los Angeles district includes some of the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods, introduced a motion Tuesday to continue a version of the pilot with a focus on people in abusive relationships and young adults in need of mental health and emotional support.
Price said he would contribute $1 million toward the next phase with funding from his council. Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez also pledged $1 million.
Beyond that, it's unclear where the next round of funding will come from. Price expressed hope that the city will continue to support the initiative through the general budget.
“I don't know how realistic it is to think it's $40 million again,” Price said. “But I think it's realistic to think we could get something.”
This article is part of The Times article. Equity Information Initiativefunded by the James Irvine Foundationexploring the challenges facing low-income workers and efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.
