GEE AND URSULA

‘We’ve seen it work’: Tacoma mayor explains why she believes in universal basic income pilot

Dec 16, 2020, 5:20 AM

Victoria Woodards, Tacoma, universal basic income...

Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards. (City of Tacoma, YouTube)

(City of Tacoma, YouTube)

Tacoma will soon have $600,000 in funding to use on a universal basic income pilot program. The city’s mayor, Victoria Woodards, explained to KIRO Radio’s Gee and Ursula why she thinks that program can work both short and long term.

Tacoma mayor considers universal basic income to ‘level the playing field’

Part of the funding for the program comes from a $500,000 donation from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who handed out a total of $15 million to cities across the country to fund universal basic income pilots. Another $100,000 is courtesy of the Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI) group.

Woodards has long pushed for a universal basic income program as one the MGI’s founding members. With funding now in hand, she points to past data from similar pilot programs as proof of how it can and will be effective in Tacoma.

“We’ve seen it work,” she noted, referring to a recent pilot program in Stockton, Calif., that yielded positive results.

That program distributed $500 in direct monthly payments to over 125 families spanning 18 months. Over that period, 43% of participants worked full- or part-time; 11% took care of parents or children; 20% had some sort of disability; and just 2% said they weren’t looking for work. Of the $500 they received monthly, 40% went toward food, 25% to sales and other merchandise, and 12% was been spent on utility payments.

The hope is to follow a similar model for a pilot program in Tacoma.

“I think when people have their basic needs met, that’s when they could begin to think about how they could do them better for themselves and their families,” Mayor Woodards noted. “… It’s going to provide people with a little bit of breathing room, or at least the ability to breathe, so that they could think of, potentially, about what their next step could be.”

WA lawmaker looks to break ground on universal basic income

“These are people who are trying to get up and go to work every day for their families and for themselves, but at night, come home and still don’t know if they have enough money to put food on the table,” she continued. “This will give us an opportunity to provide that kind of support.”

More specific details are currently still being determined, but the city already has partners on board to help develop a roadmap. Those partners include United Way of Pierce County, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, the Urban League, Sound Outreach, and the Tacoma Housing Authority.

Woodards expects to have more details announced by March 1, 2021, including information about who would get money to start and how long the pilot would run.

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Gee and Ursula Show

Gee and Ursula

belltown hellcat social media...

Frank Sumrall

Infamous ‘Belltown Hellcat’ social media influencer charged with reckless driving

The social media influencer has been accused of driving 107 miles per hour through Belltown in a Dodge Hellcat.

9 hours ago

Photo: Yale players, including guard Yassine Gharram, center, celebrate with fans after their 78-76...

Julia Dallas

Gee and Ursula: Idaho band turns ‘Van-Dogs’ as they rep. Yale for March Madness

Yale took down Auburn in a major upset during March Madness. But, they might've not been able to do it without the help of a marching band.

3 days ago

boeing negligence...

Ursula Reutin

Ursula: Boeing has finally taken a step in the right direction

Boeing CEO David Calhoun acknowledged that the mid-air blowout of an Alaska Airlines door panel was a watershed.

3 days ago

Image: Photo of "The Ascent" by Larry Anderson...

Julia Dallas

‘Gee and Ursula’: Bonney Lake mayor search reveals ‘tea’ on candidate

The City of Bonney Lake is searching for a new mayor after the former mayor accepted a job with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.

10 days ago

Both President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump have locked the nomination for their respectiv...

Bill Kaczaraba

Medved: ‘People didn’t really know (or care) there was a primary’

Medved believes that people are unhappy with their choices during this presidential cycle.

12 days ago

Photo: The homeless encampment outside city hall is being moved around Burien to another home at Do...

Ursula Reutin

Ursula: The Burien homeless crisis highlights an even bigger problem

Because of the lack of alternatives, the King County Sheriff has ordered her deputies to not enforce a camping ban in Burien.

16 days ago

‘We’ve seen it work’: Tacoma mayor explains why she believes in universal basic income pilot