Denver has plans to provide a group of unhoused people with $12,000 in direct payments for one year to assess the impact on their lives. Using federal COVID-19 relief money, plus donations from private donors, foundations, and corporations, the city will partner with Impact Charitable for this 12-month experiment. Splitting the participants into two groups, one group will receive half the money upfront, and the remainder as monthly payments of $500 through the next 11 months.
The other group will get $1,000 every month all year. A separate “control group” will get $50 a month for the same time period. In collaboration with the University of Denver’s Center on Housing and Homeless Research, the program will compare the different groups to see what kind of impact the payments have on housing stability, employment, psychological health, and other areas. Applicants must be working with a service provider (like the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless or Colorado Village Collaborative) to qualify, and they can’t have any unaddressed mental health or substance abuse issues.
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