AMERICANS are set to lose $1,000 payments in a matter of days, as a guaranteed income program comes to an end.
The scheme was designed to support those living in poverty in Los Angeles, California.
Breathe has now come to an end, a guaranteed income program that paid out $1,000 monthly to randomly selected participants.
The pilot program initially selected 1,000 participants who would be paid for a total of three years.
This was then expanded in 2023 to an additional 200 former Los Angeles County DCFS foster youth.
These participants would receive $1,000 per month for two years.
Then, in August 2024, the Board of Supervisors opted to expand Breathe.
This increased the parameters of Breathe to more than 2,000 foster youth in care between the ages of 18 and 21.
This is set for later this year, offering $500 monthly or $1,500 quarterly payments for 18 months.
The website confirms that the initial program period for Breathe has now closed.
BENEFICIARIES
Those in favor of schemes like Breathe have said that they are more effective than government welfare.
The program has released a series of videos from some of its beneficiaries thanking the program for the help it gave them.
Darien, a single mother of five, emphasized how little help she normally gets.
She said: “I don’t get a lot of help. For the next couple of years that I get it, I’m able to save up.”
Another recipient was single mother Jackie, who was forced to sleep in her car with her 10-year-old daughter when she joined Breathe.
Jackie recounted: “We weren’t living anymore, we were just trying to survive.”
How does Guaranteed Income work?
Guaranteed Income and Universal Basic Income programs have taken off in popularity recently.
After the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan of 2021 sent stimulus money to local governments, dozens began testing guaranteed income (GI) systems.
The specifics vary, but GI typically involves payouts to people with low incomes. Unlike traditional welfare, there are no job requirements, drug tests, or other strings attached.
Some have pushed for a Universal Basic Income (UBI), which would go to everyone regardless of how much money they make at work. Alaska has used a similar system since the 1970s.
Proponents say this alleviates poverty while incentivizing work, unlike classic welfare, which cuts benefits from people who begin earning “too much” money to qualify.
Opponents argue such a system is too expensive to function on a large scale and suggest Americans should avoid becoming reliant on government money.
With some cities heralding the success of GI programs, some Republican-led states have moved to ban them. States like Texas and Iowa, for example, have undermined major spending plans by pushing against GI.
WHO WAS ELIGIBLE?
To have been eligible for Breathe, you needed to be between 21 and 24 years old, so you wouldn’t turn 24 until September 1, 2023 or later.
You also needed to live in Los Angeles county, specifically in a neighborhood that fell at or below 100% of the County’s Area Median Household Income (AMI).
Your household income needed to fall below or be level at 100% of the County’s AMI.
For example, a single person household could not be earning more than $56,000 annually.
Then, going up, a household of four people couldn’t be making more than $96,000 before tax.
Only one person was eligible to participate in the project per household.
