Oregon lawmakers are considering a proposal to provide $1,000 a month to unhoused or low-income individuals for two years to see how it affects their ability to secure stable housing or otherwise improve their well-being.
The proposal by Sen. Wlnsvey Campos, D-Aloha, would earmark $25 million to run a guaranteed income pilot program through 2025 and fund a study of the program by Portland State University’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative to better understand the effects of long-term cash assistance.
The program would aim to serve people who are severely rent burdened, homeless or at risk of losing housing. Campos’ proposal does not say which of the many thousands of people in that category would get top priority for the monthly payments. But people already receiving housing assistance or earning more than 60% of their area’s median income would not be eligible.
If approved, it would be the nation’s first statewide pilot of a basic guaranteed income program.
Senate Bill 603 “aims to support Oregonians struggling to pay their rent and meet their basic needs and to demonstrate the benefit that direct financial assistance provides both to low-income Oregonians and the state,” Campos said at a public hearing Monday.
At that hearing, proponents from a slew of housing and homelessness organizations broadly said the monthly payments would positively transform lives, while opponents who were largely individual citizens questioned whether participants would use the no-strings-attached money responsibly.
Nonprofit experts cited federal pandemic stimulus payments that helped people navigate financially challenging times and the expanded Child Tax Credit that reduced child poverty as examples of unrestricted money that was well spent. Both programs have since expired but the research on their effectiveness still stands, they said.
“Evidence shows that providing unrestricted cash assistance is one of the most effective ways to reduce food and housing insecurity,” Oregon Food Bank volunteer coordinator Juan Soto wrote as part of his prepared testimony. Soto noted that Oregonians who most disproportionally experience hunger are Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants, refugees, LGBTQ and single mothers.
Annabelle Morgan, one of the individuals who spoke against the proposal, said she thought the money would be better spent directly on housing and behavioral health care.
The bill “gives a handout rather than a hand up to individuals experiencing homelessness,” she said. “There is no accountability to how this money will be spent … Instead, fund programs that enable independence, education.”
Marisa Zapata, director for the Portland State research group that would study the pilot program if the bill passes, said numerous studies have shown that people provided with guaranteed income generally use the money in productive ways.
Basic income programs in Washington D.C., Jackson, Mississippi, Stockton, California and throughout Canada have shown that participants spend that money to improve their financial, emotional and physical health. This has included paying bills, buying more nutritional food, accessing medical care more frequently and paying for childcare, among other expenses.
In Multnomah County, the Multnomah Mothers Trust Project has provided 100 Black mothers $500 a month since early 2022. Participants generally used funds for utilities, rent, medical issues and to start saving for emergencies, according to testimony provided by Portland State University.
Preliminary results of a Stanford University study of more than 30 basic income pilot programs throughout the country found that 70% of money was spent at grocery and retail stores.
What makes the Oregon proposal different from most of the other programs is that unhoused people would be eligible recipients. Kathleen Conte, another researcher from Portland State, said Denver is the only other city that has piloted a similar program. Its results have yet to be released.
“What is challenging is we haven’t been able to find much research on guaranteed income for people who are experiencing active homelessness,” Conte said. “We are excited about learning from the study in Denver.”
While $1,000 monthly payments might not be enough to house someone, there could still be large benefits for those individuals, Zapata said.
“A flat $1,000 payment if you are unsheltered in rural Oregon will go a lot further than in Portland,” Zapata said. “Part of the study is we want to see the impact of people’s ability to be able to move into housing … I am also interested to see if people use funding in other ways to not be unsheltered, like by renting motel rooms more often.”
Zapata predicts that unhoused people who receive payments would also prioritize purchasing survival gear like winter coats.
Some pilot programs have not allowed people experiencing severe, unmanaged mental illness or a substance use disorder to participate. The Oregon program wouldn’t bar people with behavioral health issues from qualifying though an individual would have to already be approved for housing assistance to qualify, said Cameron Herrington, policy director for the Oregon Housing Alliance.
Zapata said individuals are the best at deciding what they need most in life – and the data from other pilot programs has shown that.
“People can make better decisions about what they need when given spending flexibility,” she said. “This program is also about human empowerment and trust. All these social service systems we have are hard to work with and can be demoralizing. Instead, this program says we will give you money to take care of yourself, whatever that looks like for you.”
Whether the bill has strong enough support to pass remains unclear. It could face steep hurdles, given that Gov. Tina Kotek already put forth a multi million-dollar housing and homelessness package that doesn’t include Campos’ proposal.
Herrington, whose organization represents over 100 housing and homelessness agencies statewide, said the fact that Senate Housing Chair Kayse Jama, a Portland Democrat, scheduled public testimony for the bill early in the session is a good sign.
Herrington thanked Jama. “We are just as eager as anyone to find out how far this idea can go in the Legislature, but it is absolutely worthy of consideration both as policy and an item in the budget.”
If the bill doesn’t pass this year, Herrington said it likely would be brought back in the next legislative session.
Nicole Hayden reports on homelessness for The Oregonian/OregonLive. She can be reached at nhayden@oregonian.com or on Twitter @Nicole_A_Hayden.