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LOCAL STORY DENVER BASIC INCOME PROJECT STUMBLES BY PAULA BARD “The Denver Basic Income Project is a powerful example of what can happen when the private sector, government, and philanthropy come together to co-create solutions to complex challenges,” says Javier Alberto Soto, president and CEO of The Denver Foundation. “Many people in our community need resources to overcome deep, systemic issues that lead them to homelessness in the first place. Basic incomes will create a lifeline for stability, economic opportunity, and wellness.” BASIC INCOME – transferring cash directly to the unhoused – is a sensible and humane vision currently in the experimental stage around the country. For Denver, it could potentially impact up to 600 of the metro area’s 6,104 individuals experiencing homelessness. (This number comes from the 2020 Point in Time survey count.) Mark Donovan, a Denver resident, saw this potential impact and decided to invest in a community initiative. According to Donovan, a basic income would at least stabilize things and create some of the redistributions of the unjust allocation of wealth that is pervasive in our economy. Donovan believes that taking financial action could impact the lives of people in great need. So, with a seed donation, he began the Denver Basic Income Project. The project, which aims to provide a basic income of $12,000 to select individuals, involves a partnership between local nonprofit service providers already involved with caring for the unhoused and community members, along with organizations that can provide funding and support. Importantly, they included an advisory board with lived experience of being unhoused. But it can be a daunting task to gather players from all walks of life to work together and take meaningful action around Denver’s humanitarian crises of the unhoused. Even though the Denver Basic Income Project initially aimed to fully launch this fall, ahead of winter, it has stumbled. The project began earlier this summer with a pilot program meant to iron out any issues. Then, in late August, the nonprofit Denver Homeless Out Loud (DHOL) decided to leave the project after the completion of the pilot. What went wrong? THE PLAN The program is modeled after the groundbreaking New Leaf Project (NLP) in Vancouver and the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED). Both programs funneled direct cash payments to vulnerable populations and have revealed dramatically positive results. The SEED program reduced income volatility and allowed recipients to find full-time employment. Recipients of a guaranteed income were healthier, showing less depression and anxiety and enhanced wellbeing. The Impact Report from the NLP showed that moving into housing provides stability, reduces 10 DENVER VOICE November 2021 the risk of trauma, improves health, and frees up shelter beds. The report also showed that recipients prioritized spending on recurring essentials like housing, food, transportation, and utility bills. The organization has partnered with the University of Denver’s Center for Housing and Homelessness Research and tasked them with running a randomized control trial to chart results. This will enable them to contribute solid data to the policy debate advocating for Universal Basic Income as an effective tool to address extreme poverty and unhoused populations. The research will analyze the impact of direct cash on housing, wellness, income volatility, and stability. This summer, the Denver Basic Income Project structured its pilot in three tiers of direct cash payments: Group A: Participants will receive 12 consecutive monthly cash transfers of $1,000 on the 16th of each month. Group B: Participants will receive a one-time cash transfer of $6,500 during the initial enrollment month and then will receive 11 consecutive monthly cash transfers of $500 on the 16th of each month. Group C: Participants will be considered the control group for the study. They will receive 12 consecutive monthly cash transfers of $50 on the 16th of each month. DHOL and Mile High Ministries were the two groups actively involved with small pilots, each signing up six participants – two people in each of the three categories. VISIONS COLLIDE Some members of the nonprofit community, those working directly with the unhoused, had concerns around safety and the speed of the program’s rollout. Ana Sofia Cornelius of DHOL, who is running one of the small pilots, saw two significant issues and raised her concerns to the group. “Particularly around the consent form and card limits. I brought it up at the first board meeting. . . If the participants left the program they had to pay back the funds, which I thought was very problematic,” Cornelius explains. “When I was pitched this project I was told there would be no strings attached. And this seemed like a pretty big string, especially for someone who has nothing, to then maybe have a $12,000 bill is a huge handicap and harm.” PAUL WALLS, DENVER BASIC INCOME RECIPIENT. CREDIT: PAULA BARD She was told that she misunderstood and that the form had been informed by a group of lawyers and was finalized due to a shortened timeline. “Because of the deadlines, we were being pushed to keep moving forward, even though there were lots of problems that we wanted to troubleshoot,” says Cornelius. “The other issue was the card limit,” she continues. “If you’re looking to make a big purchase, you can’t, because there are card limits. And if you’re looking to make cash purchases, there are withdrawal limits. And so, for folks who are unhoused and looking for maybe to buy an RV off of Craigslist or something, they’re going to be working with cash. The limit is $705 a day, but an RV is clearly more than $705. So, if you’re withdrawing $705 per day, where are you storing it? If you’re unhoused on the street, having that amount of cash in your tent with no protection can make WHO IS MARK DONOVAN? DESCRIBING HOW HE ENDED UP IN DENVER, Donovan explains, “I went to Indonesia in the early ’90s and fell in love with it,” he says. “I established a business and a life in between Bali, Indonesia and the U.S. and built my company over the years. We were a women’s sweater company. I’m still one of the principals; I’m not as active as I used to be. I’ve learned a lot from that, particularly lean manufacturing, to do a lot with little space and little money. It’s applying that kind of thinking within this space and trying to come up with different approaches, run small tests. If we learn something, then we try again. That’s the way I’m trying to approach it. I think the Basic Income Project is one of those concepts that might create a foundation for accelerated transition towards stability.” Donovan started coming to Colorado about 10 years ago and then moved to Denver in 2017. He started doing personal basic income grants last June. “With the personal grants, I work with a number of individuals who are unhoused. This has been part of my learning experience. Then I started having discussions with some of the partners last December like Jeff Johnson at Mile High Ministries and Cole Chandler at Colorado Village Collaborative. He discusses his approach to problem-solving, explaining, “I started with the personal grants. I run small pilots and learn from them and pivot and see what works and what feels right, and then keep going from there. So, I started doing a deep dive into the research and direct cash everywhere, including child tax credits. I haven’t read anything negative about direct cash so it seemed like this is something we can build upon.” According to Donovan, the efficacy of direct cash has been proven. “What we’re trying to do is get as much out as possible, and learn how to target it better,” he says. “Is the lump sum better than monthly $1,000 [payments]? We can use it in conjunction with different service approaches and the different organizations. Will that impact or show us how to do it better? And so, it’s a lot about learning and also providing this foundational support that will hopefully accelerate and augment the work of these partners that we have.” ■ ANA SOFIA CORNELIUS WITH DENVER HOMELESS OUTLOUD. CREDIT: PAULA BARD

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