A lottery system will determine which Chicagoans will get $500 per month for a year as part of an effort to study whether a universal basic income could reduce poverty in the city, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Thursday.
as city officials search for a nonprofit organization to administer the program. Lightfoot has called it the largest test of a basic income program.
. City officials expect to have enough cash to help 5,000 families, and anticipate the number of applicants will significantly outstrip capacity.2022 budget proposal, which was released in September Chicago’s 2022 budget also sets aside $4.8 million to make one-time $500 payments to domestic workers who lost wages during the pandemic as well as $10.7 million to make one-time $500 payments to Chicagoans who did not receive federal cash assistance payments. That program excluded undocumented immigrants.
New tickets that those enrolled in the program receive could be resolved with a payment of 50% of the original penalty, and interest would not start accruing until December 2023, under the plan.