Peduto seeks approval for $2.5M universal basic income program in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto is seeking council approval to use $2.5 million in federal covid pandemic relief funding to start a guaranteed personal income program.

The item is set to be introduced to city council Tuesday.

The idea is being tested in cities throughout the country where people are given a monthly cash payment, ranging from $500 per month in Stockton, Calif.’s program to $1,000 per month to Black mothers in Jackson, Miss.

In July 2020, Peduto joined Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, the group of municipal leaders who are advocating for the programs.

Peduto has said the plan is worth testing locally and that it will focus on Black women in the city’s pilot program. Specific details about the program haven’t been finalized.

“Covid-19 has shaken the very foundations of American life and laid bare the economic inequity that especially affects our communities of color,” Peduto said when he joined the group last year. “In committing to policies around guaranteed income, we are proud to join groundbreaking leaders from cities across the country in fundamentally rethinking our economic structures to support and uplift the residents of Pittsburgh.”

About $2.5 million of the city’s $335 million in American Rescue Act Plan funds would be allocated to OnePGH, the stand-alone entity Peduto’s office created in April to oversee contributions from the city’s nonprofit sector. OnePGH would then fund the pilot program.

“There are cities across the country that are using ARP money to do this,” Dan Gilman, Peduto’s chief of staff, said.

The allocation was part of the plan council approved in July to earmark the city’s $335 million in American Rescue Plan money.

RELATED: Pittsburgh Council approves plan to spend $335M in federal covid relief money

Each item in the plan also requires council approval. The legislation to be introduced Tuesday involves the universal basic income program.

Council will also consider approval of $74 million in American Rescue Act money for Urban Redevelopment Authority projects, including $7 million for the city Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Avenues of Hope program. The program aims to revitalize business corridors in predominantly Black neighborhoods

The allocations were subject to public debate that included some people asking council to slow down the process to reevaluate how the money would be spent. Ultimately council advanced a four-year plan presented by Peduto that also included input from a recovery task force that included council members that aimed to ensure the allocations were made through a lens of equity to benefit the city’s Black communities.