SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 18: State Senator Dave Cortese speaks to the media during a tour of the Vietnamese American Service Center (VASC) next to Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez in San Jose, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
At any given time, about 2,500 Santa Clara County students are homeless. In hopes of pulling some out of poverty, the county plans to give 50 unhoused high schoolers a $1,200 monthly stipend to help them secure lasting homes and cover other essential needs as they enroll in college or start their careers.
The “guaranteed income” program will start next summer with a $3 million infusion from the state. Recipients will be free to spend the money on whatever they choose. The aim is to provide students with temporary support once they’re no longer eligible for some federal aid upon graduation.
The program “will close that benefit gap,” said David Cortese, a Democratic state senator representing the South Bay, during a news conference Friday. “It will stop this cycle, this endless cycle of graduating more and more young people into adult homelessness.”
County officials on Friday were unable to say for how long students would receive the cash payments or how recipients would be selected.
Karen Tanveer, an 18-year-old student who was homeless before finding help from a Santa Clara nonprofit, challenged local officials and aid organizations to continue boosting support for students without stable housing.
“I had dreams of becoming a poet, but upon unfortunate circumstances, I saw those dreams dashed and divided into a million stars in the night sky that I wished upon over and over again,” Tanveer said at the news conference. “I’m here to vouch for the kids who are struggling through similar circumstances and difficulties.”
In recent years, guaranteed income programs for low-income people have gained popularity nationwide. In the Bay Area, local governments and private organizations have started or announced at least 20 such pilot programs. That includes a previous effort by Santa Clara County in 2021 that gave $1,000 monthly payments to 72 young people leaving foster care. That same year, Oakland started giving $500 monthly to 300 families and later doubled the program to 600 families. South San Francisco also started sending $500 monthly checks to 150 low-income families, and Alameda and Mountain View recently approved similar programs.
Advocates for no-strings-attached cash payments say allowing low-income residents to use the money however they see fit provides true financial stability, empowering them to find good jobs and avoid debt.
“The biggest difference between most current government financial support programs and guaranteed income is the flexibility of the dollars,” said Santa Clara County Board President Susan Ellenberg. “Guaranteed income is based on the premise that individuals who receive funds are best positioned to determine how to spend the money to meet their particular needs.”
Critics, however, argue the programs erode the incentive to work and threaten to siphon resources from other safety net programs such as Medicaid or social security.
A study of Stockton’s guaranteed income program, which gave more than 100 residents $500 a month between 2019 and 2021, found that recipients’ financial situation and health appeared to improve, though the economic fallout of the pandemic made it difficult to draw definitive conclusions.
Currently, Cortese is also backing a state bill that would offer cash payments to homeless students across California. The bill, SB 333, will be considered during next year’s legislative session.
Once the county program is up and running next year, Cortese plans to “go right back to the state government and say, ‘This is how you do it. These are the best practices. This is how you implement a program like this.'”
Originally published at Ethan Varian