The first two $750 monthly payments have gone out to 53 Brookline residents enrolled in a new guaranteed income program.
The Brookline Housing Authority announced the program in April with the intention of providing $250 monthly checks to low-income housing residents but tripled the payments to $750 through a partnership with the Brookline Community Foundation that formed over the summer.
The program, called UpTogether Brookline, will run for a year. It is integrated into a five-year coaching and asset building course offered by the housing authority to Section 8 voucher holders and housing authority residents.
Laura, a 39-year-old with a son in second grade, enrolled in the housing authority’s self-sufficiency program in October and shortly after was invited to enroll in the guaranteed income program. A Section 8 voucher holder, she is a case worker for homeless families in shelters, earning $48,000 a year in a town where the median household income is $140,000. She asked to only be identified by her first name to protect her privacy.
For the past few years, she said, she has been struggling with living paycheck to paycheck but dreams of fixing her credit and buying a house. The self-sufficiency program is a way for her to take steps towards realizing those goals, she said.
“I just feel like this has been a big blessing in the moment,” Laura said, pausing to compose herself. “Sorry, I’m getting emotional. It’s such a huge relief when you need it.”
Both organizations had separate plans to roll out a guaranteed income program after receiving American Rescue Plan Act grants, a federal stimulus package meant to help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Those grants, plus additional money from the community foundation, fund the $536,000 income project.
“We sought to look for ways that could really impact economic mobility for the people who experience the greatest need – which in Brookline, we also know, disproportionately includes people of color,” said Zoraida Fernandez, co-president of the Brookline Community Foundation.
For Karen Lajara, a 50-year-old with four daughters living in a BHA residence, the guaranteed income program has helped her clean out credit card debt and given her confidence in her goal of buying a house. As a financial plan specialist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center making $52,000 a year, Lajara said she has long worried about the future of her daughters, especially as a breast cancer patient who is constantly anxious she may not be able to provide for them as she does now. With the guaranteed income, she feels closer to stability.
“I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, finally,” Lajara said. “It’s my motivation to keep going.”
Other communities in greater Boston have implemented guaranteed income programs, with Somerville, Cambridge and Chelsea having their own versions.
Danielle Mendola, BHA’s resident service programs director, said UpTogether Brookline was modeled after the economic stability plan in Newton, which combined ARPA grant money and economic coaching from advisers.
While the housing authority hopes to continue expanding its economic mobility and self-sufficiency programs, the guaranteed income program will last only 12 months, said BHA executive director Ben Stone.
Similarly, Fernandez said the community foundation hopes to be a part of a program like this for years to come. By providing stability for people without policing them, you allow them to meet their potential, she said.
“Knowing that the participants are hard workers, they’ve got goals,” Mendola said. “And by supporting them, it’s really helping to make a more equitable Brookline, and that has benefits for everyone, the community at large.”
This story is part of a partnership between Brookline.News and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
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