Studio City Residents Can Apply For $1K/Month In New LA Program

STUDIO CITY, CA — Studio City families living under the federal poverty level are now eligible to apply to receive $1000 in monthly cash payments, thanks to a new guaranteed income initiative from the City of Los Angeles.

On Friday, the city opened applications for its new “Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot” (BIG: LEAP), a guaranteed basic income program that will provide a total of almost $40 million to up to 3,200 Angelenos. The families who receive the funds will be chosen randomly.

The program, sponsored by 9th District Councilmember Curren Price, will be funded by taxpayers and money from individual Council district offices. The city is also paying about $4 million for analysts to study the efficacy of the program. Mayor Garcetti initially said it would be paid for with federal funds, but that turned out not to be possible.

The program will provide $1000 in no-strings-attached payments for 12 months. To qualify, applicants must live in the City of Los Angeles; be at least 18 years old; have at least one dependent child or be pregnant; experienced a medical or economic hardship related to COVID-19; and have an income level at or below the federal poverty line, which falls at $26,500 a year pre-tax for a family of four. Applicants can check their eligibility online.

Families have from Friday until Sunday, Nov. 7 at 11:59 p.m. People can apply online, or attend neighborhood hub events set up through the city to help people apply.

In Studio City, the median household income is $152,407, and 2,312 of its total population of 39,128 people live under the poverty level, according to data provided by real estate company Point2 Homes.

The BIG:LEAP program is the largest of its kind in the country, and makes Los Angeles the biggest city to launch such an endeavor. The goal of the program, and others like it, is to provide much-needed economic assistance during a time of widening wealth gaps exacerbated by the pandemic. One-third of working adults in Los Angeles are not able to support their families with full-time work alone, the website said. Poverty affects 20% of Angelenos, and most of them are people of color. 31% are children.

“The relentless poverty experienced by too many Angelenos emerges out of a lack of financial resources, not a lack of judgment,” the program’s website says. “While Angelenos are doing everything in their power to achieve financial security, the burdens of a high cost of living, unaffordable housing options, and insufficient wages too often exceed families’ ability to confront those challenges on their own — and we know that the economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 will outlast the pandemic itself. Employment alone cannot always break the cycle of poverty, and research has consistently demonstrated that direct cash aid is a powerful tool for ensuring greater stability for vulnerable Americans.

"Sadly, this pandemic has only exacerbated the racial wealth gap," Price said at the program’s kickoff event Wednesday. "And it's laid bare a mountain of inequities that impact us all."

"We're looking to help, first and foremost, people to break out of poverty," Mayor Eric Garcetti said at the kickoff event. "And because the majority of Angelenos who live below the poverty line are Angelenos of color, we see guaranteed basic income as a means of building a stronger social safety net, and as an instrument of racial equality."

Related:

• LA Approves Guaranteed Income Program