HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — In Harris County, 1,500 families will soon start receiving $500 per month for 18 months, with no strings attached and no rules on how they spend it.
Harris County commissioners recently approved the program, called “Uplift Harris,” using more than $20 Million in federal COVID funding.
“I think it’s fair to say that we are launching an all-out assault on trying to reduce generational poverty,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis told us on Inside Texas Politics.
Nobody will get rich off of $500 per month.
But Ellis says it will go a long way to help low-income families find some financial breathing room in an effort to create a better situation. Paying for childcare, for instance, so they can search for a higher-paying job.
Ellis said 18% of Harris County residents have an annual income of less than $25,000 a year.
“In Harris County, which is Houston, we are on the front lines of terrible repercussions of Texas’ race to the bottom,” Ellis said. “Our state is the ninth-largest economy in the world. But nearly 15% of people who live in Texas live below the poverty level.”
Dozens of cities and counties across the country already have similar programs in place, including Austin.
Critics say the programs are too expensive and encourage some workers to stay unemployed.
And to those who argue there should be strings attached, Ellis said studies have shown that doesn’t work as effectively.
Ellis also said they will be tracking results and any decision on whether to extend the program will be made only after the pilot ends.
“We’re going to bring in an independent third party entity to evaluate Uplift Harris and see how it goes and what recommendations they would make. So, we’ll use a very data-driven approach to see what works,” he said.
Harris County is expected to start accepting applications for the program in September.