This Mayor Is Giving People $500 A Month, No Strings Attached. Here’s His Advice For Trump.

As the coronavirus pandemic shatters the economy and redraws society, policymakers are scrambling to find ways to soften the economic gut punch. This means policies once considered fringe are suddenly racing up the mainstream political agenda. Universal basic income ― the idea of giving people no-strings-attached cash handouts ― is one of those finding increasing traction.

Under the stimulus plan, individuals would receive one-off payments of $1,200 ($2,400 for couples) and an extra $500 for each child 16 or younger. The payments would be phased down for those earning between $75,000 and $99,000, and those making more would be ineligible for payments. It’s estimated about 90% of Americans would qualify for this relief.

What’s being offered is not a universal basic income. It’s means-tested, therefore not universal, and it’s just a one-time payment, not something that could help people meet their needs on an ongoing basis.

But it further opens up the long-running conversation about whether people should be entitled to some kind of guaranteed income to meet their needs. That’s something that Michael Tubbs, the 29-year-old mayor of Stockton, California, welcomes with open arms.

Tubbs has skin in the UBI game. He’s been conducting a trial of a guaranteed income in his city since February, giving 125 residents ― all of whom live at or below the city’s median income level of about $46,000 ― $500 a month in cash with no strings attached. Funded by a grant from the Economic Security Project, the project is set to last 18 months. Promising initial results show that people are using the money to help reduce income volatility.

Offering direct payments is “a great start,” said Tubbs. “I’m happy that our federal government has shown a willingness to understand… that during times of crisis, the best thing you can do is to give folks cash to navigate through.” He cautioned, though, that the amount proposed by the administration is too small to soften the enormous economic blow many people are facing, and it needs to be recurring. “It has to last at least as long as the crisis.”

“While any stimulus that provides a direct cash benefit to Americans is promising, providing $1,200 per individual and more robust unemployment insurance benefits does not meet the scale of economic devastation caused by the pandemic,” wrote Martin-West and Castro Baker in an email to HuffPost.

As people scramble to cover their rent and mortgage payments due in April, they argued, offering direct payments that are likely complex to calculate, rather than a recurring and prompt cash benefit, “introduces additional bureaucratic hurdles that will delay payments and ultimately cause undue stress and financial hardship for families.”

The concept of universal income has been around for a very long time but has been bubbling up more in political debate over the last few years thanks to the proliferation of pilot schemes around the world ― from Finland to Kenya to Alaska. The idea also gained national prominence last year thanks to former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, whose campaign hinged on the idea of giving every American adult $1,000 a month.

Tubbs is grateful that a space has opened up to think more seriously about UBI. “I’m sad that it’s taken a once-in-a-century type of event, like the coronavirus, to get lawmakers to seriously consider the idea of a basic income,” Tubbs said. “But I’m thankful we’re having a conversation now because we live in a time with natural disasters, public health pandemics, etc., which seemed to be recurring, which means that folks need, during times of calm, to have the income floor to build a foundation, so when these inevitable disruptions happen, folks will have a stronger footing.”