Consider This from NPR - Could Universal Basic Income Help End Poverty?

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

People who work on ways to end poverty have been trying a simple approach lately: just giving money to those in need, with no strings attached.Universal basic income, or UBI, once seemed like a radical idea in the US. But now, many places in the country are pushing to make UBI a permanent part of the social safety net.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Mona Hanna-Attisha was one of the people who exposed the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan about a decade ago. I respect the science of what lead does. I understand it's a potent, irreversible neurotoxin. And I also understand that lead's a form of environmental racism. Dr. Mona, as she is known, is a pediatrician by trade. So here was the first thing on her mind when she learned about the lead in Flint's water. That's the last thing our kids in Flint needed. That's the moment I stopped sleeping, I stopped eating, I lost about 30 pounds, and I began this quest to find out if that lead was getting into

the bodies of our children. When Dr. Mona began digging into health records of children in Flint that showed high levels of lead in their blood, she found that many of those kids were also facing poverty. So earlier this year, Dr. Mona launched a first-of-its-kind program to tackle child poverty, giving every new mother in Flint cash for the first year of the baby's life. Dr. Mona saw it as a way to help meet the child's nutritional and health care needs. What happens in that first year of life can really portend your entire life course trajectory. Your brain literally doubles in size in the first 12 months of life. At her clinic, she pops into a checkup for baby Rowan, who's just two days old. Oh, hi, baby! Oh! So we're doing this program for the first year of life because this is a really important time for the baby.

Rowan's mother, Haley Teparek, is 19. She didn't realize she was pregnant until just 10 days before the delivery. And when she came in to see Dr. Mona, she was amazed to learn that she would be getting $500 a month for Rowan's first year of life. And she knew exactly how she would be spending that money. Diapers, formula, just to take care of him, honestly. It's been difficult for me, but I got my mom here to help me. That first year of a baby's life is also a time when poverty in a household can worsen because pregnancy and child care can force women to cut back on hours or even lose their jobs. While Flint's program targets new moms, there are now more than 150 programs across the country

that give many people facing poverty money without conditions. People who work on fighting poverty in the U.S. say pandemic government aid made it clear that giving people in need a little extra money could help them in huge ways. And they spend the money in ways that everyone does, right? On those basics, going to the grocery store, making sure the rent is paid, paying the car note, those sorts of things. Consider this. Universal basic income once seemed like a radical idea

in the U.S. before the pandemic. But now, many places in the country are pushing to make it a permanent part of the social safety net. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Consider This from NPR. People who work on ways to end poverty have been trying a simple approach lately, just giving people money with no strings attached. There are more than 150 basic income programs like this across the U.S. now. The pandemic showed just how much a little money from the government could help people struggling financially.

The U.S. Census Bureau found that an expanded child tax credit cut child poverty in half. That is, until the expansion ended and child poverty spiked. NPR's Jennifer Ludden spoke to people who are receiving benefits from existing cash aid programs and those who want to make universal basic income a central part of America's social safety net. At home in Ulcip, Illinois, Christopher Santiago is making beef stew for dinner. those who want to make universal basic income a central part of America's social safety net.

At home in Ulcip, Illinois, Christopher Santiago's making beef stew for dinner. Not too much longer now. He's a single dad. The two teens are in their rooms. Nine-year-old Calliope hangs near as he washes potatoes. Callie, hungry yet? Mm-hmm. Santiago remembers being skeptical when he first heard about basic income. It was 2020 when presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposed it for all adults. Like, no, why? Why would you need that? That doesn't make much sense, you know?

But for a year now, Santiago's been getting $500 a month through Cook County's Guaranteed Income Program. Snuggling on the couch with Callie, he says it's helped him manage the skyrocketing price of everything and do more for his children. She was in ballet for a bit last year. For my middle child's birthday last year, we went to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. There was also a trip to Florida. We went to a water park. Yeah, that was fun. I got Dippin' Dots and I went on a whole bunch of slides. The added cash has also let Santiago avoid mini-emergencies, like right after that Wisconsin trip.

And then the furnace broke the same week and it was a $700 part. And I was just like, oh God, this would have sunk me. Supporters say guaranteed income works because people can spend it on whatever they need most. Tony Preckwinkle is president of the Board of Commissioners for Cook County, which includes Chicago. I hope that it provides some financial stability for people, that they can pursue education for themselves and their children, that they can invest in their families in ways that makes them more productive and more stable over time. The idea is not new. Preckwinkle notes that Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers called for guaranteed income. So did President Nixon.

These days, tech entrepreneurs argue cash aid will be needed as gig work, automation, and AI threaten jobs. Preckwinkle wants to prove it works so it can someday go nationwide. Well, the federal government is really the only entity that has the resources to do this on the mass scale that it needs to be done. Cash aid was fringe before the pandemic, but after all those COVID stimulus checks and emergency rental payments, interest exploded. Also, cities got their own pandemic money. They're using that, along with philanthropy, for small cash aid pilots. They target low-income households and pay them $500 or $1,000 a month for a year or two. But as that pandemic money runs out, it's possible this trend could

fizzle. That's the concern. And that's what we are pushing back against. Natalie Foster heads the Economic Security Project, which advocates for guaranteed income. She says the U.S. has more poverty than almost any other rich nation, and its social safety net is one of the stingiest. If you look at so many other countries with similar economies, you understand that college is free. They ensure that health care is cheap and affordable. Oftentimes, child care is free. That is the type of life we could offer Americans and choose not to. Foster says basic income is not meant to replace other assistance, but add to it. That's what it's doing for Taylor Raquel Adams, who I caught up with while she was driving. I had some errands to make, but I'm hands-free. Adams lives half an hour south of Chicago and

works an overnight shift at Amazon, 3.30 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. When people send something back, it goes to her. And I'm expecting it to see if we can resell it, if it needs to be refurbished, or if it's salvaged. She's 42, single, no kids. She's worked since she was 15 and would love to work full-time again, but she says it'd be tough given that she suffers PTSD from childhood trauma and has schizoaffective disorder. Adams gets disability, a housing subsidy, and food aid. And still, the extra $500 a month basically helps her make ends meet. I'm hoping in the next couple of months I get some savings, but it's been able to help me with, number one, my medical. The cash aid also let her buy Christmas presents last year and splurge on a pedicure for her birthday.

One payment went for a pricey car repair, a huge help given her long commute to the Amazon plant. You need income to work. I mean, it's only so many jobs in my area, and it's within walking distance. To be clear, this and other guaranteed income programs do not require people to work at all. That's a selling point for supporters. They say it can give people time and space to find a better job or a new direction.

But it's a big concern for opponents, especially if no strings cacheted were made permanent. My fear is that we would see earnings and hours and work decrease amongst low-income Americans. Leslie Ford is with the Conservative American Enterprise Institute. She agrees the social safety net needs to change, but says work should remain at the heart of it. Ultimately, if we want this person to become self-sufficient,

if we want the outcome of our safety net to not merely be subsistence, work is a key aspect of flourishing long-term. So far, with short cash aid pilots, researchers say there has been no impact on whether people have jobs. Some parents, though, have cut back gig work to spend more time with their kids. Researchers also reject the stigma that poor people can't be trusted with free money. Stacia West with the University of Pennsylvania has tracked people in multiple pilots all over the country. And they spend the money in ways that everyone does, right? On those basics, going to the grocery store, making sure the rent is paid they spend the money in ways that everyone does, right? On those basics,

going to the grocery store, making sure the rent is paid, paying the car note. After about six months of payments, she and her co-researcher Amy Castro also find glimmers of deeper psychological change. Less stress, more hope. Castro says there are still many open questions. You know, how long do people need to be receiving cash in order to create change? And how do we put that into policy in such a way that it actually makes sense? These programs are expensive. People should be asking those questions. Castro, West, and others are racing to find answers as more places, from big cities to rural counties, turn to cash aid for struggling Americans. That was reporting from NPR national correspondent Jennifer Ludden.

This episode was produced by Janaki Mehta. It was edited by Bridget Kelly and Catherine Laidlaw. Our executive producer is Sammy Yannigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.