by Peter Knight | May 3, 2024 | News
Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash
Note: These pilot programs do not meet BIEN’s definition of basic income.
“Ingrid Sullivan, 48, used her cash from the San Antonio guaranteed basic-income program to rent a home where her grandchildren can play in the yard. And Monique Gonzalez, 41, moved herself and her family out of a San Antonio motel.
A Denver resident, Jarun Laws, 51, used his basic income to pay his rent and buy food.
“My life was always just a couple hundred dollars short,” Sullivan told Business Insider. “For the first time, I can breathe.”
Guaranteed basic income has become an increasingly popular poverty-solution strategy in US cities. Over 50 municipalities have tried the GBI model since 2019, offering low-income participants between $100 and $1,000 a month, no strings attached, for a set time period.
To read the full article in Business Insider, click here.
by Guest Contributor | May 1, 2024 | News
“Across the country, city-led guaranteed income programs are delivering unrestricted payments to struggling households, including those ineligible for other aid. Conservative critics are pushing back.
By J.J. McCorvey
Just weeks after Kiki Ramos received her first $500 monthly payment from the Richmond Resilience Initiative, her car was stolen.
“It would have been a big domino effect if I didn’t have this extra money,” she said.
Her damaged vehicle was soon recovered, but without the additional cash, the 33-year-old pharmacy technician couldn’t have afforded to get it fixed or secure a rental in the meantime, given her $1,000 insurance deductible. That would’ve meant figuring out car pools or public transportation to and from work, and little ability to shuttle her boys, ages 12 and 3, to doctor’s appointments and recreational activities.
To read the full article, click here.
by Peter Knight | Apr 30, 2024 | News
Neil Howard has just published a new video on UBI and the cost of living crisis, that the Green Party in the UK have also shared a version of. You can see the video here and on social media here.
by Peter Knight | Apr 29, 2024 | News
“This themed issue, guest-edited by Jurgen De Wispelaere and Troy Henderson, is devoted to examining, first, whether the widespread use of immediate and unconditional cash transfers as a policy response to the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis has provided a boost to cash transfer programmes generally and to emergency basic income (EBI) policies more specifically. The set of articles then charts the reception of EBI-type policies as a pandemic response in specific country or regional contexts, and reflects on their relevance for the future development of universal social protection and, especially, universal basic income (UBI). While the contribution to be made by basic income to realizing resilient and agile social protection policy responses merits serious consideration, in particular in a context where existing social protection systems are patchy and fragmented, important questions remain as to how to evaluate the time-limited EBI crisis response in light of the more durable needs which a permanent UBI purports to address.”
To access this issue of the International Social Security Review, click here.
by Peter Knight | Apr 26, 2024 | News
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
An article by Eric Reinhart, M.D. has been published this month. Teaser:
“What the expanded child tax credit essentially did, at a cost of $128 billion over 1 year (less than 2% of the federal budget, 3% of 2023 U.S. health care spending, or 7% of the 2023 U.S. defense budget), was provide a guaranteed basic income for families with children. For many of the nearly 40 million U.S. residents living in poverty, this provision of public support in the form of basic income didn’t merely reduce poverty; it had a dramatic stabilizing effect and substantially improved their health and experience of everyday life.”
To read and/or download the full article, click here.
by Peter Knight | Apr 25, 2024 | Events, News
“The FRIBIS Annual Conference 2024 focuses on partial basic income models and their implementation into various welfare systems. By examining feasible designs of partial basic income, the conference aims to identify ways to advocate for the idea of an unconditional basic income politically. FRIBIS is particularly interested in contributions related to social protection floors, sustainability, and issues in an international context.
Date: Monday, October 7, 2024, 1:00 PM to Wednesday, October 9, 2024, 3:30 PM CEST
Location: Freiburg University (Germany)
Format: Hybrid
Call for Papers and Workshops Deadline: June 30, 2024
Helpdesk: conference@fribis.uni-freiburg.de
The conference will focus on models of a partial basic income and their implementability in various welfare state systems. FRIBIS is particularly interested in contributions related to:
Contributions from researchers and activists of all genders, locations, and cultures are welcome. Abstracts and full texts can be submitted for the core conference and the open part. The FRIBIS Best Paper Award (€1,000) will be awarded to the best contribution by a young researchers. For more information, please refer to the attached Call for Papers and Workshops or visit our conference website.”
