Recently homeless families in San Francisco will get $1,000 every month as part of a new program funded in part by Google’s nonprofit arm.
The “It All Adds Up” program, which pulls inspiration from Julius Caesar gifting Roman citizens 100 silver coins and the idea of a guaranteed basic income, was announced this week by two charities. It’s part of a broader $1 billion effort by Google to make housing more affordable in the Bay Area.
The program is slated to cost more than $6 million over a five-year pilot period, with money also coming in from anonymous donors.
“It All Adds Up” will give 450 families that have recently experienced homelessness a monthly stipend. Half of the group will get $1,000 a month, with no strings attached, for five years. The other half, the control group, will get $50.
“Cash is just one of many vital supports Bay Area families need to break the cycle of homelessness for good,” the “It All Adds Up” website reads.
“While research has already proven GBI (Guaranteed Basic Income) effective in improving individuals’ health, financial, and employment outcomes, ‘It All Adds Up’ is a first-of-its-kind effort to determine the impact of direct cash payments on families’ long-term housing stability,” it adds.
Even though guaranteed income programs have been around for centuries, the concept has once again started to gain traction with policymakers who see it as a tool to help combat homelessness and promote affordable housing.
OpenAI founder Sam Altman is also funding a pilot to study the practice of guaranteed basic income. He predicted three years ago that AI could one day create enough money to pay every adult in the United States $13,500 per year.
San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, as well as Portland, Oregon, and Oakland, California, are among the West Coast cities that have been hammered with a spike in homelessness over the past several years. More people have been taking to the streets after being pushed out of their homes due to sky-high rents and wealth disparities.
San Francisco has experienced a surge in family homelessness in recent months, with 427 families waiting in line for shelter as of April 17. A wait list for individual shelter beds had 172 people on it this week. The city pledged in 2017 to eliminate homelessness among families, but the problem has only grown. New migrant families have also become vulnerable to homelessness in San Francisco. Mental health and addiction have also affected the rise in homelessness.
San Francisco, along with Oakland and Santa Clara County, have all launched pilot basic income programs over the past few years, but “It Adds Up” will be the first to focus on families on the edge of homelessness.
Compass Family Services and Hamilton Families are in charge of running the new program.
“We know it works,” Hamilton Families CEO Kyriell Noon told the San Francisco Chronicle. “What we’re trying to do is gather enough compelling data to take to City Hall, Sacramento, (the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development) and change policy.”
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A 2021 report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition found that it took more than four minimum wage jobs for a household to afford a two-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco area comfortably.
“It’s unacceptable that we live in a place where there’s so much wealth and resources,” Noon said, “and yet there are families choosing between eating and paying rent.”
