Car theft occurred weeks after Kiki Ramos received her first $500 Richmond Resilience Initiative monthly stipend. Without this extra money, “it would have been a big domino effect,” she said.
Given her $1,000 insurance deductible, the 33-year-old pharmacy technician couldn't afford to replace or rent her damaged vehicle without the extra cash. That would have required car pooling or public transportation to work and little time to take her 12- and 3-year-old boys to doctor's appointments and activities.
The third-generation guaranteed income program in Virginia's capital, a city of 230,000 people where 1 in 5 live in poverty, features 46 participants, including Ramos. Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), a coalition of municipal leaders expanding similar schemes, says the effort is one of 35 functioning nationwide.
A post-pandemic economy that defies forecasts and high living costs compress working families has boosted the programs. Universal payments help fill gaps in a social safety net that lags millions of households' financial realities, say proponents. Critics are repeating their claim that the payments discourage employment in a strong job market.
This program targets Richmond citizens who work but suffer financially. Ramos makes $42,000, $5,000 above the federal poverty level for her household. Her income disqualifies her for most state and federal aid, yet it seldom covers her $1,200 rent, $150 weekly grocery bill, and $680 car insurance payments.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program limit, said Ramos, who helps her mother and sister, who have mental problems that prevent them from working. Due to her salary, Ramos' family has been refused SNAP and Section 8 housing benefits while receiving Medicaid.
From 2020 to 2022, Richmond's real GDP rose 2.6%, compared to 1.9% nationally, recovering faster from the epidemic. More than a third of Richmond-area families are “ALICE” households—asset limited, income constrained, employed—whose earnings don't cover essentials despite living over the poverty line, according to the United Way.
The epidemic added 21,000 ALICE households to Richmond from 2020 to 2021, like in other cities. As federal stimulus payments showed “the government can make cash available to the vast majority of people pretty easily,” guaranteed income (GI) programs changed during the health crisis, according to left-leaning think tank deputy director for income security Aditi Shrivastava.
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