Philadelphia is experimenting with guaranteed income pilots for pregnant people and housing insecure families

Philly Joy Bank and PHLHousing+ are guaranteed basic income pilots in Philadelphia offering families cash, no strings attached.

• Two guaranteed basic income pilots are happening in Philadelphia.
• One is for families on public housing waitlists and the other is focused on pregnant people. 
• Guaranteed basic income offers participants cash for a set period of time, no strings attached.  

Philadelphia has joined the national guaranteed basic income wave — with a focus on pregnant people and families experiencing housing insecurity.

The PHLHousing+ pilot is in its second year of providing aid to families on public housing waitlists, while Philly Joy Bank just launched applications for its expectant parents pilot in June.

The city, along with local philanthropists and foundations, hope that no-strings-attached cash through the pilots can help alleviate rates of homelessness, childhood poverty, and maternal and infant mortality.

Philadelphia's infant mortality rate is nearly 40% higher than the national average. And, per the city's annual point-in-time count, about 1,300 families with children were experiencing homelessness or living in shelters in 2023. Nonprofit United for ALICE also found that 44% of all children in Pennsylvania lived in households experiencing financial hardship in 2019, the latest available data. What's more, 17% of all children in the state were living below the federal poverty line.

The guaranteed basic income model typically gives low-income participants cash payments for a set time period. Participants can spend the money however they choose and Business Insider has spoken with individuals who used their money to pay rent, buy groceries, pay down debt, afford healthcare, and support their children.

"We really want to uplift the autonomy and dignity of participants for them to address their needs in the way that they see fit," said Nia Coaxum, the Philly Joy Bank program manager within the Division of Maternal Child and Family Health at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.

GBI programs have been tried over 100 times across America as an approach to poverty reduction. The Bay Area, Chicago, San Antonio, New York City, and Denver have completed similar pilots — with some also focused on housing insecurity and new parents.

Still, results from GBI pilots often reflect participants' short-term, self-reported experiences. It's not yet clear how much guaranteed income will affect participants' financial stability after their payments end, and not all policymakers agree that it is a sustainable approach to poverty reduction.

Philly Joy Bank hopes to improve birth outcomes

The Philly Joy Bank pilot will offer $1,000 a month for 18 months to pregnant people beginning in their second trimester. In addition to cash payments, participants will have access to free doula care, lactation support, and financial counseling.

Pilot leaders began accepting rolling applications on June 24, and will choose eligible participants in a randomized lottery until all 250 available spots are filled. To be eligible, individuals must be between 12 and 24 weeks pregnant and live in the Nicetown-Tioga, Strawberry Mansion, or Cobbs Creek areas of Philadelphia.

The pilot was developed by the Philadelphia Community Action Network: a group of parents, health professionals, researchers, and policymakers. It is a partnership between the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Philadelphia City Fund — with funding coming from the city and various foundations.

Coaxum said the goal of Philly Joy Bank is to support new families and mitigate Philadelphia's high infant mortality rate.

And, while the city has notably high infant and maternal mortality rates, there are clear racial disparities in the data. According to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, non-Hispanic Black women made up 43% of births from 2013 to 2018 but accounted for 73% of pregnancy-related deaths. Black infants are almost twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white infants in Philadelphia, per the city's Department of Public Health.

"Providing this extra cash to participants during pregnancy will lower their stress, which we know has real, measurable effects on the body," Coaxum said.

The no-strings cash model will give pregnant people and new parents the agency to choose what they need most, Coaxum said. For example, families could spend their monthly $1,000 on household bills, groceries, pediatrician co-pays, postpartum supplies, formula, diapers, childcare, and more.

Guaranteed income programs like Philly Joy Bank "should be the standard, not the exception," Coaxum said.

PHLHousing+ aims to increase housing security for low-income families

PHLHousing+ program launched in the fall of 2022 and is expected to run until summer 2025. It's a partnership between the city and the nonprofit Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation. It offers guaranteed income to families on the city's waitlist for the Housing Choice Voucher Program — also known as Section 8 — which helps reduce rent costs for low-income households facing housing insecurity.

PHLHousing+ randomly selected 300 renter households on waitlists for housing vouchers to receive cash payments. To be eligible, participants must have at least one child under the age of 15 and be earning less than 50% of the area median income, which is slightly under $68,000 for a family of four.

Throughout the pilot, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania will conduct surveys and interviews to compare the 300 participants to a group of 600 eligible households who were not selected to receive payments. The latter will act as a control group.

Participants will pay about 30% of their personal monthly income toward housing, then they will receive guaranteed income to cover any remaining balance.

The exact cash amount varies by household, but the Philadelphia Housing Development Corporation told BI that the median payment is $881 a month. Ninety-five percent of participants are also a female head of household.

Dawn Benson is a single parent and participant in PHLHousing+. She previously told BI that guaranteed income allowed her to pay for gas, electricity, and water bills, as well as buy clothes and shoes for her family. Going forward, Benson hopes the money can help her build savings.

"This program saved my life for real," she told BI in April. "And it's still helping."

Noah Sheidlower contributed to this report.

Have you benefited from guaranteed basic income program? Are you open to sharing your experience? If so, reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.