L.A. County universal basic income pilot would provide $1,000 per month

Holly Mitchell is the newest member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. Her basic income proposal, which Supervisor Sheila Kuehl co-authored, is one of her most significant motions thus far. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: May 13, 2021 / 05:37 AM PDT

Updated: May 13, 2021 / 05:38 AM PDT

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Los Angeles County could soon become the largest county in the country to launch a universal basic income pilot program, providing at least $1,000 a month to at least 1,000 residents.

Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Sheila Kuehl are proposing that the guaranteed income pilot program provide monthly payments for three years. The criteria for participants has not been determined.

The two supervisors said the county must explore anti-poverty measures as permanent county policy, not just as emergency measures to alleviate economic instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We must fundamentally shift the idea that people who face financial insecurity have somehow failed, and instead recognize that it is the inequity and lack of access built into our economy and government assistance programs that have failed us,” Mitchell and Kuehl said in their motion.

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