Pretty much every one of these studies comes up with similar results. - ThreadSky

mmasnick.bsky.social • 252 days ago

Pretty much every one of these studies comes up with similar results.

Denver gave people experiencing homelessness $1,000 a month.

Results showed that close to half of the participants secured housing, and nearly $600K saved in public service costs due to fewer ER visits & jail stays. They also saw improved mental health.

Comments

ktetch.bsky.social•252 days ago

Absolutely, and that's from direct personal experience (it's been a hell of a time since we recorded that podcast episode)

scottsantens.com•251 days ago

True story.

https://youtu.be/hqJq9pnZxDc?si=Ncy47_CuVIF8tVgk

cv-danes.com•251 days ago

Noting that helping people in need is considered the liberal position.

ronpluth.bsky.social•252 days ago

Apparently the moral thing is for people to provide their own bootstraps?

terraformer.bsky.social•252 days ago

yes, but the concept goes against what the rich and powerful would rather the hoi polloi not see nor consider doing at scale

booond.bsky.social•252 days ago

It is a much nicer world when people have housing, can get a decent meal, and have a job/purpose.

zendarva.bsky.social•252 days ago

Probably explains why a few states are already trying to ban UBI.

scottsantens.com•251 days ago

Exactly.

https://www.scottsantens.com/billionaire-fueled-lobbying-group-behind-the-state-bills-to-ban-universal-basic-income-experiments-ubi/

emschwar.bsky.social•252 days ago

They spent $9.4 million to save $600k. Not exactly what I'd call cost effective.

charleskinbote.bsky.social•252 days ago

Making life better for vulnerable people isn't supposed to be a money making scheme

emschwar.bsky.social•252 days ago

I agree!

zendarva.bsky.social•252 days ago

During the period of the study.

Going forward, how much?

How much do those people now contribute to society, when they were taking before?

In 10 years how much?

20?

30?

that 9.4 million is *nothing* against the next 50 generations of taxpayers born out of even one couple in this experiment.

caffeineislife.bsky.social•252 days ago

The changes which come about as a result of people having a place to live, being able to feed/clothe themselves and possibly acquiring employment, will make that $9.4 mil a very smart investment.

gearoidmm.bsky.social•252 days ago

Also, it's 0.3% of the city budget. They spend $655million on the police force. It got 400 people off the streets so making life better for everyone. There are indirect benefits that are not measured by the headline figures.

mmasnick.bsky.social•252 days ago

The idea of the program was not to make money.

emschwar.bsky.social•252 days ago

Of course not! I'm just saying if you want to save $600k in social services spending you could probably do it for less than 9.4M.

michmatchrv.bsky.social•252 days ago

Ok, how much less? What would the program look like? How much would it need to soak off the top for administration? Which of this program’s successes could it replicate?

Some of these recipients will continue saving public services money and improving community and public health. Would yours?

khakhalin.bsky.social•251 days ago

It's still not the point. Basically, the point is that "UBI is reliably flat in terms of expenses" (what's a better guarantee of a flat cost than a slightly negative cost?)

You can spend M$ torturing people, or you can spend the Exactly Same Amount fixing their lives for good. What do you prefer?

emschwar.bsky.social•251 days ago

If it were UBI, the cost for that program for Denver alone would have been around $6B; for comparison, the entire budget of the city for 2024 is a shade over $4B. Realistically, it would be a lot more, as the part of the program that gave people $50 would probably not happen in a full implementation

emschwar.bsky.social•251 days ago

As far as I can tell, the study itself was limited to homeless people, so I don't think it's a good model for UBI. I do agree with all the people that criticized me earlier, though, since I did also think it was originally a UBI experiment and was criticizing it as such

pyrholidon.bsky.social•252 days ago

We're spending nearly a billion dollars a year to study how to end homelessness instead of just giving people housing.

leeroymcjenk.bsky.social•252 days ago

It's interesting that the media descriptions don't seem to mention that the $50 a month group outcomes ended up pretty similar to the much larger $ groups. https://www.denverbasicincomeproject.org/research

mrbad.bsky.social•252 days ago

UBI is a game-changer. Enough studies have been done, the results are all the same. Time for full-scale!

driftingthrough.bsky.social•252 days ago

But if they aren't suffering in the gutter, what will make everyone else feel grateful for a shitty underpaid job and abusive/toxic work culture? The economy of wage slavery will collapse.

jaze.bsky.social•252 days ago

Yep, that's why they ignore the results

julesprom.bsky.social•251 days ago

wow! if only there was some kind of lesson we could learn from it!!!

the-barely-jew.bsky.social•252 days ago

Same with universal healthcare. We know it saves money but it "rewards poor people," so it'll never happen.

cv-danes.com•251 days ago

Exactly. We're perpetually stuck between Republicans who just want them to die already and Democrats who think they should be helped, but only after they've verified through multiple rounds of means testing.

boteball.bsky.social•252 days ago

*it saves TAXPAYER money

Can't forget the forgotten taxpayer.

the-barely-jew.bsky.social•252 days ago

Bah, taxpayers. Who needs 'em?

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