If you’re like many San Franciscans, you know what it’s like struggling to afford living here. You know the overwhelming stress of worrying whether you’ll be able to cover all your bills and also make rent payments this month. You know the feeling of hunger pangs from skipping meals to keep your daily costs down. You know the feeling of panic when your car unexpectedly breaks down, or your cough suddenly turns even worse and you weigh the risks of continuing to avoid the expense of going to the doctor. If none of this sounds familiar to you, then consider yourself lucky.

 

According to data reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2022, 10.4% of San Franciscans (over 82,000 people) were living below the Federal Poverty Level ($13,590/year for an individual), and one out of every three San Franciscans—nearly 300,000 people—was in a household that was earning less than the minimum livable wage ($55,396/year for an individual). That’s a massive proportion of the population experiencing poverty. All of those people have a much lower quality of life, are experiencing significantly more stress, anxiety, depression, and a host of other negative health outcomes, are more likely to experience mental illness or drug addiction, and are at a much higher risk of slipping into homelessness if unexpected emergency expenses come up that cause them to start missing their rent payments and get evicted.

 

Poverty is fundamentally a lack of money. So what is the most direct and effective way of addressing poverty? Simple: give people money. That's why I propose a Universal Basic Income (UBI) of $1000/month for every citizen of San Francisco. This bold move is designed to help prevent homelessness by providing economic stability for everyone, especially for those on the brink of losing their homes due to economic hardships such as job loss or medical bills. Early results from a pilot in SF have been promising, showing significant reductions in homelessness and improvements in quality of life when people receive $750/month.

 

But UBI is about more than just fighting poverty and preventing homelessness; it's also about building a stronger, more resilient San Francisco by ensuring that every citizen has a financial floor to stand on. When everyone can depend on a basic income, they have the freedom, flexibility, and peace of mind to make financial decisions that are better for them and their families in the long run, they can care for their children or older parents when they need to, they can leave abusive relationships, they are better equipped to handle unexpected expenses without falling into debt, and they participate more in the local economy. A UBI is an investment in the promise and the dream of every citizen.

 

This concept is not new; in fact, UBI nearly became a reality in the United States during the Nixon administration in the 1970s, demonstrating its bipartisan appeal and historical precedent. Inspired by hundreds of successful pilots in places as different as Stockton, California and Finland, and the Alaska Permanent Fund, UBI echoes the calls for economic justice championed by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who advocated for a guaranteed income as a means to eradicate poverty and uplift marginalized communities in the months before he was assassinated. UBI has also garnered support from a long list of diverse figures such as 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and libertarian economist Milton Friedman, highlighting its broad appeal and foundation in universal ideals and values. In a quickly evolving world where many jobs are in danger of being replaced by AI, and a lot of uncertainty about whether there will be any new jobs to replace them, the time is ripe for this innovative improvement to the fundamental structure of our economy.

 

Features and Benefits of UBI

• Direct monthly payments to every citizen of San Francisco: Provides financial security and peace of mind, enabling individuals to pay down debt and pay for unexpected emergency expenses, just like it did in the SEED program in Stockton, and cover basic needs like food, housing, and healthcare just like it’s doing currently for the San Franciscans currently receiving $750/month who are spending over 60% of the funds on these necessities.

• Better And Cheaper Than Welfare: Offers a reliable cash deposit to your bank account every month, ensuring financial stability that isn’t taken away if you get a better paying job. Lack of qualifying conditions means there’s no stigma attached to receiving it, no bureaucracy to prevent you from getting it when you need it, and very low administrative costs. Because of all these benefits, any amount of welfare that is currently tied to income levels should ideally be replaced with a UBI that goes to everyone, but if someone is currently getting assistance that exceeds the amount of the UBI, then they should not end up with less money in the end. When UBI replaces welfare programs, more money ends up in peoples’ pockets, rather than in the hands of bureaucrats. It’s a streamlined and efficient solution that empowers individuals to make their own choices about how to spend their money. An important caveat is that any programs, like Disability Insurance, that are targeted at people with special circumstances that prevent them from working or saddle them with additional living expenses, should never be taken away, though they could potentially be reorganized into an extension of the UBI program.

• Helps Prevent and Reverse Homelessness: Directly addresses one of the major triggers of homelessness, offering a proactive approach that prevents individuals and families from falling through the cracks. Unlike reactive measures, such as temporary shelters or emergency aid, UBI provides a sustainable solution that fosters long-term stability across the entire community.

• Kickstarts the Local Economy: By putting money directly into the hands of all residents, UBI stimulates local spending and drives economic growth from the ground up. This contrasts with traditional economic stimulus plans, which often focus on top-down approaches that may not reach those who need it most. Additionally, having the freedom and peace of mind of a UBI reduces the risks of starting new ventures, empowering people to pursue higher education or start a new business, so there’s an increase in entrepreneurialism and a larger number of new small businesses appearing every year.

• Better Health Outcomes: Many health outcomes are correlated with income levels, so when people have more income, they’re more likely to have better health outcomes, which not only makes for a happier and healthier society but also reduces health care costs in the long run.

• Reduces Childhood Poverty: Children who grow up in poverty go on to have less gray matter in their brains, are more likely to commit crimes, and are more likely to develop obesity. Reducing childhood poverty reduces all of these outcomes, resulting in large cost savings for health care in the long run.

• Reduces Inequality: Helps to close the racial wealth gap,

• A More Diverse SF: Teachers, artists, and other folks who have been priced out of San Francisco could have a better chance of affording to live here again.

• Reduces Crime Rates: Studies of guaranteed incomes in Manitoba and Alaska have shown that when a community receives a cash transfer payment, crime rates go down. This means a UBI would provide the double benefit of less victims of crimes and less cost to taxpayers in law enforcement and criminal justice.

• Inclusive Solution: Appeals to voters across the political spectrum by offering a common-sense solution that benefits all citizens. Unlike divisive policies that pit one group against another, UBI fosters unity and cooperation, ensuring a brighter future for everyone.

 

Addressing Concerns

• Won’t It Disincentivize Work?: Studies of UBI programs, like the one in Stockton, show no evidence of reduced work participation. In fact, it can enable individuals to take on more meaningful, fulfilling, or lucrative work.

• Won’t It Cause Inflation or Raise Rents?: Careful implementation and monitoring will ensure UBI does not contribute to inflationary pressures, but there’s no evidence so far of a large net inflationary effect of UBI.

• Won’t It Cost Us Too Much?: The long-term benefits to individuals and society of increased economic activity, improved health outcomes, and reduced crime will make the investment more than worth it.

 

How To Fund It

A UBI of $1000/month for every citizen of San Francisco will cost $10.2 billion. Funding for the program can come from a combination of the following sources:

• Cost Savings ($500 million): UBI partially pays for itself by reducing City expenses in healthcare, law enforcement, and emergency services. It also can replace some existing welfare programs that are currently limited to people earning below a certain income threshold, since everyone would now be getting the same benefits and the reduced administrative costs associated with making the program Universal would go back into the hands of people instead of bloated bureaucracies.

• Increased Tax Revenues ($10 million): UBI is expected to stimulate local economic growth by 5-10%, raising tax revenues.

• Pollution Taxes ($650 million): We should be taxing sources of pollution, like greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas and gasoline, that allow certain people to benefit at the expense of everyone else. These taxes will force people to pay the true social costs of the negative externalities of their activities. Over time, the tax revenues would decrease, as they have the expected impact of reducing overall pollution levels. This is a good thing. We could choose to continue ramping up the tax if we wanted to continue to receive the same revenue from less pollution.

• Land Squatting Fee (up to $13.5 billion): There are 27 million square feet of privately-owned vacant lots in San Francisco. We should charge a $500/sqft fee to anyone who currently owns such a plot of land and use the proceeds to fund a UBI. If the owner of the parcel can prove that the lot is of more value to the community by remaining empty or that they’re making reasonable progress towards making use of the land, then they can be exempt. If they decide they’d rather not make use of the land and don’t want to pay the fee, then the city can buy the land and use it to build Universal Social Housing. Either way, we would be making housing more affordable.

• Land Value Dividend (up to $10.2 billion): My personal favorite is to use a Land Value Dividend as a UBI. Rather than having a property tax that heavily taxes buildings and punishes people for making good economic use of the land they occupy, we should shift the tax burden to the value of the land itself, since land is a common resource that everyone should derive some basic benefit from. A Land Value Tax of $12/sqft on all private property in the city could completely fund my proposed UBI of $1k/month, and the majority of residents would still come out ahead with a net positive income. 

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