Chicago’s assured revenue pilot program
CHICAGO (CBS) — The town’s first ever assured fundamental revenue program will launch in April, with a lottery to find out which 5,000 low-income households in Chicago will get month-to-month $500 checks for one 12 months.
“At the moment’s announcement is all about supporting our residents who’re nonetheless struggling to make ends meet,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot mentioned in an announcement. “Our progressive, month-to-month money help program will assist to stabilize and make sure the wellbeing of residents which were struggling each earlier than and through the pandemic. I’m devoted to persevering with to deliver reduction to our metropolis’s hardest-hit communities and sit up for rolling out this new initiative as quickly as potential alongside our latest fines and costs reforms and different Chicago Restoration Plan priorities.
The Metropolis Council accredited a $31.5 million fundamental revenue pilot program as a part of Lightfoot’s $16.7 billion finances plan for 2022, and the mayor introduced Thursday town will start accepting functions for this system in April at chicago.gov/cashpilot. Extra info is offered now at that web site, together with the choice to join an alert when functions can be found.
To qualify for this system, residents should have lived in Chicago for not less than one 12 months, be 18 years previous or older, have skilled financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and have a family revenue under 250% of the federal poverty degree. That’s $57,575 for a household of three, in keeping with the mayor’s workplace.
The town is in search of a non-profit group to run this system and conduct outreach for enrollment within the assured revenue pilot. Metropolis officers additionally will associate with the College of Chicago’s Inclusive Economic system Lab to judge the impression of this system.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) proposed a assured fundamental revenue program final April, however his proposal was bottled up in committee after members of the Metropolis Council Black Caucus referred to as for a plan for town to first pay reparations to the descendants of slaves.
READ MORE: Northwestern College To Host Naturalization Ceremony
Lightfoot additionally opposed the concept on the time Villegas launched it, however later included a assured revenue program in her 2022 finances plan.
Meantime, in April town additionally will launch a $4.8 million program to supply one-time $500 to home staff, in addition to a $10.7 million fund to offer one-time $500 funds to Chicagoans who had been excluded from earlier federal COVID-19 reduction funds, together with undocumented immigrants.
The town additionally will kick off the mayor’s latest program to ease the burden of visitors and parking tickets on low-income drivers.
Low-income motorists shall be allowed to eradicate previous ticket debt by paying off the unique high-quality quantity of tickets which have piled up over the past three years, with out curiosity or different late charges. Tickets older than three years could be forgiven.
For many who enroll in this system, they’ll repay any new tickets at 50% of the unique penalty, and curiosity and different penalties is not going to start to accrue till December 2023.
The town additionally will launch a “fix-it” program for expired metropolis stickers or license plate stickers, permitting drivers 30 days to buy the required sticker inside 30 days of getting a ticket with out having to pay the penalty.
