Statewide guaranteed basic income project targets mixed-immigration status families often left out of emergency relief

By William Melhado, Santa Fe Reporter
February 7, 2022

Advocates say that so-called guaranteed basic income—a program through which no-strings stipends are provided to low-income people—is one of the few modern efforts to systematically end poverty.

After Santa Fe city officials announced a small-scale foray into the concept six months ago, a group of community organizations on Monday announced plans to launch a yearlong, statewide guaranteed basic income pilot project.

The particulars: 330 families from 13 of New Mexico’s 33 counties will receive monthly payments of $550 to help with all manner of living expenses. The plan is to push the money to a group of families that looks like New Mexico—105 of them living in rural areas and 225 in urban centers—to match the state’s one-quarter-rural demographics.

Read more at the Santa Fe Reporter