In late August, Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs provided more details about the city’s plan to provide a guaranteed income for 100 families. Starting next month, there will be 1,000 letters sent to families living in neighborhoods at or below the city’s median income of around $46,000. These letters will invite the families to participate to receive a $500 monthly stipend for 18 months. Starting in February, the 100 families will be picked at random to receive and spend the money as they wish. Tubbs stated the following,
We have neighbors, our friends, who are working themselves to death literally and still can’t afford basic necessities.
The money for this program comes from donations and it is an experiment to see how the extra money helps the recipients. The program would actually be the first in the country to provide a guaranteed basic income to its poorer residents. A control group will also be selected in addition to the 100 residents who receive the stipend. We will have to wait and see what the results are for the experiment and if the experiment is tried in other cities.
