County commissioners in El Paso County, Texas, approved unanimously a pilot program to provide “guaranteed income” to dozens of low-income families.
On Monday, Dec. 18, the county approved the year-long pilot program to provide monthly cash payments of $500 to 135 eligible households for them to use as they see fit, El Paso Matters reported. The county will also conduct a study to determine the impact of the money on the families in the program.
Last month, El Paso City Council members narrowly rejected a similar plan that would have given $500 a month to about 80 families. The tie-breaking “no” vote was cast by Democrat Mayor Oscar Leeser.
“I thought it was quite unfortunate that the city didn’t think that they needed to do this,” County Commissioner David Stout told the local news outlet. “I was very disappointed with that decision. It just leaves the county to try to pick up the slack when to provide for the most vulnerable folks.”
Eligibility will likely be limited to families who live in certain ZIP codes or neighborhoods throughout El Paso County, according to Ivanna Neri, UpTogether’s senior partnership director.
“There are people who use [the payments] to buy groceries, people who use it to pay rent, other people who use it for school supplies, and other people who use it to give a down payment on a car that then allows them to get a better job,” Ms. Neri said.
Where Will the Money Come From?
The program will have access to $900,000, which includes $500,000 set aside by the county and an additional $400,000 donated by the Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation.The county portion comes from President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) in 2021. El Paso County received $163 million in federal monies from the ARPA.
The county has earmarked $500,000 from its $4.3 million ARPA-related economic development fund to pay for the program. The money was reportedly included in the county’s spending plans for next year.
UpTogether issued $500 payments to more than 1,000 households between November 2020 and February 2021. Also, in 2021, the program provided $2,400 payments to nearly 250 families in El Paso County for more than six months.
The latest guaranteed income program will be available to eligible residents within the city limits.
City council members who voted against the city’s proposal for guaranteed income argued the program was not far-reaching enough to have a major impact. Some also questioned how low-income families would be selected for the program.
“To say, well, because of COVID, we’re going to pick 80 families out of the thousands that are below the poverty level, and we’re going to give them $6,000 for one year, and then the program’s going to go away,” city Rep. Brian Kennedy told El Paso Matters after the proposal failed in November.
According to the latest U.S. Census data, twenty-one percent of the population in El Paso County lives below the poverty line. In 2022, the county had a population of roughly 869,000 in 2022, which means more than 182,000 residents are considered low-income.
“There’s definitely more need—there’s always more need,” Mr. Stout said. “But that doesn’t mean that we throw projects away just because we can’t fulfill the whole need or that we don’t participate in projects just because we aren’t able to do something for everybody.”
