What happens when people are given monthly cash payments for a year? Tacoma will soon find out

Tacoma is kicking off a new pilot program that they hope can be utilized to reduce poverty. For one year, 110 eligible families will receive $500 in monthly cash payments — with no strings attached.

The pilot, called Growing Resilience in Tacoma (GRIT), focuses on families struggling to make ends meet.

The program is eligible to families that are considered ALICE households, or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. ALICE families earn above the federal poverty level, but still struggle to afford other household budget expenses like housing, child care, and transportation.

For a Tacoma family of four, that would be an annual income of $52,000 or less.

“We’re really excited to be launching this in Tacoma today,” said Mayor Victoria Woodards. She points to Stockton, California’s experience two years ago. Participants there used the money to help pay rent, food, or emergency expenses. Her favorite story was about one man who used the money to take a day off work.

“He was able to take a day off to be able to interview for a better job and he got that job,” said Woodards. “The goal is that we’ll be able to have more stories like this.”

The pilot program is open to residents in Tacoma's most vulnerable neighborhoods: Hilltop, Eastside, South Tacoma and South End.

Single parent or guardian households with children up to the age of 17 are also eligible to apply.

Erin Coltrera, a researcher with the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania, will be studying Tacoma’s program.

“We don’t really know a lot about how guaranteed income works and for whom it works best, and in what ways it works best,” Coltrera said.

Coltrera says they also want to know how the supplemental income is used, and how the money affects people’s lives.

The center will randomly select participants who will receive the monthly stipend. It will also choose participants for two separate groups who will not receive cash, but will be asked to participate in surveys and interviews.

The application is open until Aug. 16.