ST. LOUIS — At just over halfway through the city's guaranteed basic income pilot program, St. Louisans are still getting their monthly payments, according to City Treasurer Adam Layne. A temporary restraining order against the use of American Rescue Plan Act funds, however, has changed how the pilot is being funded.
The 18-month pilot program provides low-income families with about $500 per month, originally paid out from a pool of $5 million from ARPA funding. A judge in July halted the use of the federal funds, while a lawsuit alleging the program violates the city's charter is pending in court.
The payments to families never stopped, through, Layne said, as the city is now supporting the program with private funds, including $1 million donated by Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall philanthropic initiative with support from the Deaconess Foundation.
The original program allowed 440 families to enroll, but thanks to the private funding, an additional 100 were enrolled.
"We are continuing with the program," Layne said. "It's in a different phase right now because of the temporary restraining order that was granted by our local circuit court judge .... What that does is call into question a municipal municipality's ability to expend public funds and give those to individual citizens without requesting a service in return or something being done."
As part of the pilot program, the city is tracking how families are utilizing the income to determine what the greatest needs are.
"So grocery, food, education expenses, child care expenses rent and utilities, that's where it's going," Layne said. "We were trusting families to make the best financial decision for their household, and we're seeing that play out in the data we're tracking."
Washington University in St. Louis’ Social Policy Institute and the Brown School Evaluation Center are partnering with the city to analyze the data and evaluate the impact of the program on participants’ lives. Layne said he and his team would present the findings at the end of the pilot, June 2025.
5 On Your Side asked Layne what would happen to the guaranteed income program and the families that rely on those payments if a judge decides to put in place a permanent hold on using ARPA funds.
The treasurer said, "We haven't been told when the next time we'll be in court is yet, so right now, I'm just focused on making sure that we have that continuation of the program and securing additional private funds to make sure we make it all the way to the end of the 18 months."