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Austin will be the first major Texas city to experiment with giving cash to low-income families to keep them housed as the cost of living skyrockets in the capital city.
Under a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that cleared a key Austin City Council vote Thursday, the city will send monthly checks of $1,000 to 85 needy households at risk of losing their homes — an attempt to insulate low-income residents from Austin’s increasingly expensive housing market and prevent more people from becoming homeless.
“We can find people moments before they end up on our streets that prevent them, divert them from being there,” Mayor Steve Adler said at a press conference Thursday morning. “That would be not only wonderful for them, it would be wise and smart for the taxpayers in the city of Austin because it will be a lot less expensive to divert someone from homelessness than to help them find a home once they’re on our streets.”
Eight Austin City Council members voted Thursday to establish the “guaranteed income” pilot program and contract with a California nonprofit to run it.
www.click2houston.com
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As a long time Texan I can guarantee you that Austin will be the only city in Texas that will try this. Simply put, this program is coming from the new people in Austin that have moved from other cities that are drowning in homelessness and now they are now trying it again. Austin is changing wildly. It was a small city and now it is turning into a big one. It was a beautiful place, quirky and interesting and now homeless have invaded the area scaling up like in Los Angeles and the prices of housing have risen due to the California salaries coming to Texas prices. No other place in Texas is like this. Texas does not even have an income tax. Austin and the surrounding area is pretty much the only place rich Californians are moving. Times are a changing and I will be heading up there actually in a few hours for my daughters graduation
Under a yearlong, $1 million pilot program that cleared a key Austin City Council vote Thursday, the city will send monthly checks of $1,000 to 85 needy households at risk of losing their homes — an attempt to insulate low-income residents from Austin’s increasingly expensive housing market and prevent more people from becoming homeless.
“We can find people moments before they end up on our streets that prevent them, divert them from being there,” Mayor Steve Adler said at a press conference Thursday morning. “That would be not only wonderful for them, it would be wise and smart for the taxpayers in the city of Austin because it will be a lot less expensive to divert someone from homelessness than to help them find a home once they’re on our streets.”
Eight Austin City Council members voted Thursday to establish the “guaranteed income” pilot program and contract with a California nonprofit to run it.
Austin becomes the first Texas city to experiment with ‘guaranteed income’
Austin joins at least 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried out some form of “guaranteed income” — financial assistance targeted at needy households.
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As a long time Texan I can guarantee you that Austin will be the only city in Texas that will try this. Simply put, this program is coming from the new people in Austin that have moved from other cities that are drowning in homelessness and now they are now trying it again. Austin is changing wildly. It was a small city and now it is turning into a big one. It was a beautiful place, quirky and interesting and now homeless have invaded the area scaling up like in Los Angeles and the prices of housing have risen due to the California salaries coming to Texas prices. No other place in Texas is like this. Texas does not even have an income tax. Austin and the surrounding area is pretty much the only place rich Californians are moving. Times are a changing and I will be heading up there actually in a few hours for my daughters graduation
