City pays $200K to design guaranteed income program for trans-identified, nonbinary residents
A city in the Southern California desert known for its LGBT-friendly culture has agreed to provide $200,000 for two nonprofits to research and design a pilot program that will offer trans-identified and nonbinary residents a guaranteed income.
The City Council in Palm Springs has allocated $200,000 for the research and design phase of a pilot program that would provide up to $900 per month in basic income to eligible residents for up to 18 months.
The proposal comes from nonprofits DAP Health and Queer Works, which said in a statement the program aims to “provide direct financial assistance to marginalized local individuals.”
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“Based on the early success of other guaranteed income pilots around the country and state — including Stockton, San Diego, San Francisco, L.A., and West Hollywood — we’re eager to pilot this approach here,” DAP Health CEO David Brinkman said. “Helping people in need to better their life circumstances by directly providing them with income is an approach that’s showing great promise.”
Brinkman said the hope is to “develop a model that impacts the greatest number of individuals possible.”
Roughly 40 residents would take part in the pilot, including 20 people who “live, work or otherwise spend the majority of their time in Palm Springs,” according to The Desert Sun. Another 20 individuals, who would serve as a control group to determine how beneficial the program would be, will not receive funds.
The pilot’s research and design phase is expected to last six months. The organizers will develop a proposal to request additional funding from the state of California and other “government and philanthropic financial underwriters” to launch the pilot. The reported budget for the pilot program is about $1.8 million.
The state has budgeted $35 million in funding for guaranteed income pilot programs and is finalizing funding criteria.
While a formal funding request from the California Department of Social Services is still being worked up, officials have indicated that a 50% funding match from other donors will be required.
Eligibility requirements will be finalized during the research and design phase. The city told Fox News that only trans-identified and nonbinary individuals who meet a poverty threshold will be eligible for the program.
The median household income in Palm Springs is approximately $57,916, according to U.S. Census data, with over roughly 400,000 people living below the poverty line in Riverside County, where Palm Springs is located.
While specifics are still being determined, Queer Works CEO Jacob Rostowsky said local trans-identified or nonbinary residents would be prioritized under the plan.
Nonbinary people are those who may identify as both male and female or neither male nor female.
“People who are [trans-identified] and nonbinary are highly marginalized in our society in general, especially economically,” said Rostowsky, who cited a recent study that found trans-identified adults are twice as likely to be unemployed.
After announcing the plan last month, City Councilwoman Christy Holstege tweeted, “It is especially important to reiterate to our trans and non-binary community that you are seen, you are heard, and you are supported. We must fight back against hateful, discriminatory attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.”
But Mayor Lisa Middleton, who is trans-identified, has expressed concerns about “the ability of these guaranteed income programs to scale up to the magnitude of the issues that are before us,” according to The Desert Sun.
Middleton ultimately voted in favor of the program.
If approved and funded, the program would get underway sometime in the next year.
The pilot represents the latest effort by Palm Springs to establish itself as a “sanctuary city” of sorts for those in the LGBT community.
Palm Springs became the first U.S. city with an all-LGBT City Council in 2016 and has long been known as a popular Southern California getaway and LGBT-friendly destination.
With a population of about 48,000, recent data indicates that just over half of Palm Springs residents identify as LGBT.
