In the Media

SPECTRUM NEWS: City of LA’s guaranteed basic income program ends for thousands of families

04. 19. 2023

ESP President Natalie Foster and California Campaign Director Teri Olle comment on the efficacy and feasibility of guaranteed income.

ESP President Natalie Foster: “We have seen that people actually find full-time work at double the rate of the control group in one of the pilots. And that is because people have the ability to go to a job interview that they may not get, to go buy the suit, spend the time looking for a job that’s near their home.”

California Campaign Director Teri Olle: “Guaranteed income just works. It not only provides people the resources that they need to address their own individual needs, whether that’s Megan’s situation where she needed housing, or we’ve seen research showing that it gives people an opportunity to cover child care, or transportation so they can find better employment and stay employed, but it also provides the dignity and agency that people crave and people deserve so that people can be the authors of their own lives.”

“I think the first thing is we need political will and leaders. And we’ve seen tremendous leadership from elected officials embracing guaranteed income because they’ve seen how effective it is at providing for people who need that economic stability in their lives. Certainly, the public’s consensus is already there. If we take evidence from the expanded federal CTC that was in place during 2021 where over 90% of households with children received monthly payments averaging $400 a month, and that made a colossal difference. It dropped poverty in half almost immediately, cut food insecurity, and all of the research from that experiment has shown that it provided people more stability. They were able to provide for themselves, provide for their families, get and keep employment.”