Tackling Homelessness with Unconditional Cash Transfers: 22 February 2024

Tackling Homelessness with Unconditional Cash Transfers: 22 February 2024

“Despite the valiant efforts of many individuals and organisations, the rate of homelessness in Greater Manchester is still increasing.

A study by Shelter published in January 2023 stated that the three local authorities with the worst homelessness rate in the North West were all within Greater Manchester: Manchester, Salford and Oldham.  Both the total number of homeless people and the rate of homelessness in Manchester have been steadily increasing over the last five years, according to Shelter’s annual reports – despite homelessness prevention schemes by local authorities like Manchester City Council.

So what is to be done?  Are there any radical ideas we could try to turn this tanker around?

To learn more about this online event including the speakers and link to register, click here.

UBI FOR FARMERS: CAMPAIGN LAUNCH, REPORT INSIGHTS AND DISCUSSION

UBI FOR FARMERS: CAMPAIGN LAUNCH, REPORT INSIGHTS AND DISCUSSION

When: Friday 5th January 2024, 14:00 – 15:30

Where: Oxford Real Farming Conference 2024, Blue Boar House, INTER-VARSITY ROOM

Facilitators: Hamish Evans, Dot Tiwari, Jake Richardson & Kathleen Pollitt
Speaker: Guy Standing

“From labourers to landowners, livelihoods in agriculture are often precarious. A lack of funded pathways into farming makes careers in producing food both hard to access and difficult to sustain. Finding ways to support these livelihoods will be critical to building the resilient, sustainable and just local food systems we need. This is an interactive workshop as well as the launch of the campaign, with initial insights from a year of hosting conversations with farmers around the UK. BI4FARMERS is a campaign created by a fresh working group of growers, farmworkers, farmers, academics and union co-ordinators. The aim of the campaign is to encourage farmers and food producers to discuss possible solutions to the financial barriers they face.”

To learn more and book online tickets, click here

New Mexico Guaranteed Income Pilot Program for Immigrant Families – Report

New Mexico Guaranteed Income Pilot Program for Immigrant Families – Report

A new report on a recently concluded statewide guaranteed income pilot program with immigrant families shows how unrestricted cash assistance programs allowed low-wage earners to pursue better jobs, increase their educational levels, and improve other critical outcomes for their children.

“The NM Economic Relief Working Group’s 18-month guaranteed income (GI) pilot selected 330 mixed-immigration status households to receive unconditional direct cash transfers of $500 monthly for 12 months from February 2022 to February 2023. One-third of households sampled came from rural communities and two-thirds from urban communities. An additional extension was granted to 50 randomly-selected mixed-status households to receive $500 monthly for an additional 6 months (February 2023-August 2023).

Immigrant families were chosen for the pilot because polling showed these families struggled significantly more than the general population during the pandemic because of numerous exclusions from the country’s safety net; these exclusions were due to lack of a social security number even if the household had U.S.-citizen children. In addition, many immigrant parents are not eligible for public safety-net programs, such as unemployment insurance, even though many are essential workers, make substantial tax contributions, and have positive economic impacts on our communities, state, and nation.

After receiving guaranteed income checks for a year:

• Rural participants reporting increases in employment: 14% increase

• Urban participants reporting having unstable work schedules: 36% decrease

• Rural participants reporting having unstable work schedules: 17% decrease

• Participants reporting, they had trouble paying the rent or mortgage on time: 35% decrease

• Participants reporting having to reduce or forego expenses for basic household necessities, such as medicine or food, in order to pay the rent or mortgage: 9% decrease

• Urban participants reporting having to reduce or forego expenses for basic household necessities, such as medicine or food, in order to pay the rent or mortgage: 18% decrease

Also, as part of its advocacy, the ERWG obtained a state rule change so that receiving regular GI payments do not count as income and thus do not negatively impact recipients’ SNAP or TANF allotments. ERWG’s longer term goal is to get the State of New Mexico to provide economic supports to participants in workforce development projects, specifically childcare, home health care and the oil & gas industries.

The report, “Guaranteed Income: Increasing Employment and Helping Families Thrive,” on the New Mexico Guaranteed Income Pilot Program for Immigrant Families, was released on December 12, 2023.”

Here is a link to the report and the fact sheet.

2023 Report: Mayors & Counties for a Guaranteed Income

2023 Report: Mayors & Counties for a Guaranteed Income

Since launching in 2020, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income has grown its ranks from 11 to 125 US mayors. Building off of that momentum, Counties for a Guaranteed Income was launched this past February, led by co-chairs Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is the first to promise a permanent program, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, who led the creation of Breathe: Los Angeles County’s Guaranteed Income Program, which is currently the largest in the nation. In less than a year, 30 county elected officials have joined the movement.

To read the report, click here.