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Comment by lolsal | Hacker News Reader

> Stockton will give 100 residents $500 a month for 18 months, no strings attached.

This does not seem like enough people to really learn anything about the effectiveness of UBI, but who knows - maybe they'll learn something and some folks will be better off at the end of the experiment.

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Multiples of $500 a month is cheaper than one incident on the other side. Emergency room visit, police, etc. I don't think of this as UBI as a solution over a larger universe.

Ok, but I was referring to the number of people in the program, not the dollar amount.

Really? I'd bet it will cover rent for some of the people in this study. It seems larger than other studies I've seen, but I haven't been following all of them.

As a college student, this would cover my rent fully and leave enough for a grocery-run. It would lift a good amount the stress off of my shoulders, that’s for sure.

Nice. Rent was $300/mo in my time, 15 yrs ago.

I still have $8k in student loan debt held by Edu secretary Betsy DeVos’ Navient (aka Mom Corp).

Yeah finding under $500/mo wasn’t easy in the area around my university, especially with the housing market as it is now. I’m heading into my senior year and just might eek by without taking out loans (thanks to scholarships for average-grade receiving students).

It might cover rent. Very low-income people typically have Section 8 housing, which is subsidized.

Ok, but I was referring to the number of people in the test, not the dollar amount.

$1500/mo would cover most basics besides rent.

Alright, but I was referring to the number of people in the test, I wasn’t saying anything about the dollar amount.

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