4. Basic Housing Grant in Utah shows promise
[Karl Widerquist]
A few years ago, the U.S. State of Utah has introduced a program
calling
Housing First, which fights homelessness by giving homeless people
free housing.
According to Jenny Swank of Nation Swell, recent reports estimate
that Housing
First "has reduced its rate of chronic homelessness by 74 percent
over the past
eight years, moving 2000 people off the street and putting the
state on track
to eradicate homelessness altogether by 2015the program could
eliminate
homelessness in the state by 2015." Although the housing grant is
in kind
rather than in cash, and although it is granted only to those in
need rather
than to everyone, this program is a step toward a basic income
guarantee,
because it is unconditional. Recipients are not required to work
or to be
available to work or to prove that they are unable to work or even
to enter
substance abuse treatment if they are abusers. Also, for the first
time in the first
time in the state, Housing First creates a legal right to housing.
The apparent
rational is: whatever other problems individuals might have, they
are better
off with homes. Assessments indicate the program is
cost-effective, and other
states are looking that the program and considering imitating it.
For more on the Utah program see:
David Weigel "Republican State Gives Free Houses to Moochers, Cuts
Homelessness
by 74 Percent," Slate,
Dec. 20 2013.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/12/20/republican_state_gives_free_houses_to_moochers_cuts_homelessness_by_74_percent.html
Terrance Heath, "Utah ending homelessness by giving people homes,"
Nation of Change, 23
January 2014.
http://www.nationofchange.org/utah-ending-homelessness-giving-people-homes-1390056183
Jenny Shank, "Utah Is on Track to End Homelessness by 2015 With
This One Simple
Idea," Nation Swell.
December 19,
2013.
http://www.nationswell.com/one-state-track-become-first-end-homelessness-2015/
Utah's "Housing Works" website has information about the Housing First approach: http://housingworks.utah.gov/solution/index.html
5. BIG news from around the world
CANADA: Liberal Party members vote in favor of two resolutions supporting Basic Income
[Rob Rainer, BICN]
At the Liberal Party of Canada's biennial convention February 20-23, 2014, held in Montreal, party members voted in favour of two policy resolutions in support of basic income. Resolution #100 was passed as one of 18 "priority" resolutions: see Creating a Basic Annual Income to be Designed and Implemented for a Fair Economy. Resolution #97 was passed as one of 14 resolutions stemming from convention workshops: see Basic Income Supplement: Testing a Dignified Approach to Income Security for Working-Age Canadians . The 32 resolutions passed at the convention (out of more than 160 brought to the floor) are not binding upon the Party's leadership. However, there is a requirement for the leadership to respond to them. At the least, it is apparent that within the Liberal Party of Canada, as also within the Green Party of Canada , there is explicit openness to and support for basic income. We are aware, too, of degrees of support for basic income within the Conservative and New Democratic parties. This demonstrates once again basic income's appeal across the political spectrum.
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Campaign begins for a Basic Income Grant for the entire Southern African Development Community
Representatives from 20 organizations across 10
southern
African countries have initiated a campaign for a Basic Income
Grant (BIG)
across the entire Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The campaign
got officially under way at a two-day "Campaign Strategy Workshop"
in
Johannesburg on November 18 and 19, 2013. The SADC is an
inter-governmental
organization comprised of 15 southern African nations. One
motivation for an
SADC-wide BIG is that although the region has extremely valuable
resource
extraction industries but at the same time has great poverty. A
BIG will ensure
that every person in southern Africa receives a share in the
region's mineral
wealth.
The SADC-wide BIG Campaign Workshop had four goals: First, it finalized a draft Campaign Strategy.
Second, it discussed
the principles of the SADC BIG Coalition. Third, it provided a
form to present
the economic research on the cost, affordability and financing of
the SADC-wide
BIG. Fourth, the workshop nominated the SADC BIG Coalition
Steering Committee
and discussed its functions. The Workshop summed up the
coalition's goal as, "To
ensure the roll-out of a universal SADC BIG to all SADC citizens
including
refugees, economic migrants and asylum seekers by 2020."
For more information on the workshop see: http://takuspii.wordpress.com/projects/ser-programme-2/sadc-big/
For more on the coming campaign, and for several reports on BIG in the SADC, go to: http://takuspii.wordpress.com/category/sadc-basic-income-grant/
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