A few hundred dollars a month can bring people who are homeless the basic essentials to improve their quality of life. In Denver, they’re testing that concept. Over 800 participants are receiving unconditional payments from the Denver Basic Income Project.

The University of Denver Center for Housing and Homelessness Research is leading the research project, which studies the impact of providing a guaranteed income to individuals and families who are homeless.

“It’s so important for the field of public health to keep looking toward structural interventions such as guaranteed income or other interventions that support people experiencing homelessness,” said Marisa Westbrook, assistant professor at Portland State University, who presented Monday at the APHA 2024 session “Mental and Behavioral Health Issues Faced by People Experiencing Homelessness.”

The project gave eligible participants randomized cash payments: $1,000 over 12 months, a $6,500 one-time deposit and $500 over 11 months or $50 over 12 months. About 67% of participants identified as a person of color, and nearly 50% identified as women, transgender or people of color. 

“The power of (the payments) being unconditional is that we aren’t imposing any requirements for how they use the money,” said Westbrook, who authored the “Denver Basic Income Project Year One Qualitative Evaluation Report.”

“We are giving you this money with the hope that you use it to better your life, and you get to decide what that looks like for you.”

After one year, roughly 45% of participants in each group reported having their own house or apartment, and the number of participants who spent at least one night unsheltered in the previous week decreased across all groups. 

“Folks prioritized supporting their own basic needs, but also trying to get ahead in other ways in their life, through paying off debt, being able to figure out new methods of transportation, child care, and spending more time with their family,” Westbrook said.

Assured income allowed participants to prioritize their immediate needs, such as hygiene, transportation and clothing. 

“I would have gone without; I no longer have to live without,” a program participant told the project team.

In the one-year analysis, basic income demonstrated cost savings in public health service utilization. Project participants had fewer emergency room visits, hospital stays and jail stays. 

Westbrook said basic income did not solve all barriers in life, however. “I think it’s important to to know that while basic income is not a panacea to improve health or to better someone’s life, it advances economic equity in several ways,” she said. 

“This provides a way to meaningfully support folks to lift them up, out of the everyday poverty and the everyday struggle that they’re going through.”

Photo by Kindel Media, courtesy Pexels.