What happened after these unhoused people got monthly $500 checks?
fastcompany.com
fastcompany.com
> Out of the group of nine people who were unhoused, six now have a place to live.
A sample size of 9 people is too small, especially when small programs like these might self-select for a certain kind of a homeless person. The kind who might be more recently-homeless, someone who is undergoing temporary battles and has a lot of fight left in them. It may, and dare I say, does not work well with people trapped in a long cycle of homelessness and addiction.
I say this because this solution seems dangerously idealistic. All our politicians have over-complicated this, right? By creating shelters and food banks and benefit systems with complex bureaucracy? Surely, just handing money to people who need it should, on average, help people out, right?
But on a large scale, that is hardly ever the case. People addicted to drugs, living under terrible conditions, have far deeper problems that can be fixed with money and self-motivation. It doesn't mean these people are lazy, or made a choice to be there. But it also doesn't mean they have the capacity to self-start to get them out of the situation they are in.
I've always believed that things like UBI can only ever help prevent homelessness/proverty, or help out people on the edges of it. Which is definitely a huge upside, but it isn't a complete cure.
> Cash might not help everyone experiencing homelessness. The pilot group was very small, and recipients were carefully selected based on factors such as how much the money was likely to help them, how engaged they were with their “buddy,” and whether they were currently facing challenges like addiction. But the study suggests that even a small amount of money can make a meaningful difference for some people.