Sunnyvale lacks funding for guaranteed income program

Sunnyvale is prepared to launch a guaranteed basic income program — it’s just waiting for funding.

The Sunnyvale City Council approved the pilot program unanimously last week, with Councilmember Alysa Cisneros absent, and instructed city employees to look for external funding. The pilot could run for up to two years and provide at least 100 households with about $1,000 per month. While councilmembers approved the program’s details at the meeting, some officials and residents are skeptical about finding a third-party partner to help fund the estimated $4 million cost.

Councilmember Omar Din first suggested the program two years ago and said it would benefit the city’s most vulnerable residents. He said a guaranteed basic income program bypasses some problems with other forms of government assistance — for example, monitoring or limiting how recipients spend their money, which can create hurdles.

“The goal for this program is to lead to the best outcome,” Din told San José Spotlight. “If you can free (recipients) up to make the best decisions for their specific context, then the best outcomes will come out.”

Sunnyvale is far from the first jurisdiction to consider a basic income program, even locally. Right next door, Mountain View is operating a two-year pilot program providing $500 monthly checks to 166 families, caregivers or pregnant women who earn 30% or less than the area median income. In Santa Clara County, 30% of the area median income for a family of four in 2023 was $54,390.

Councilmembers initially envisioned the program to serve low-income families with children, but a report from Dalberg, who the city hired to develop recommendations for the program, found it would be best implemented with a broad audience.

The report found about 8,000 Sunnyvale residents living below the federal poverty line, which is $31,200 for a family of four. Because of Silicon Valley’s high cost of living, the report suggested including households living 200% below the federal poverty line, which is roughly $62,400 for a family of four.

Councilmembers are generally supportive of the program, but funding is the challenge.

“This program is now adopted, that’s the item we voted on, and now it’s just waiting for the funding piece to get fully worked out,” Din told San José Spotlight.

Residents such as Chuck Fraleigh voiced concerns about using the city’s general fund to cover the multimillion-dollar cost. Fraleigh, a member of the neighborhood advocacy group Livable Sunnyvale, said it’s unlikely the city finds a third-party funding source for the program and that he’d prefer seeing city energy directed elsewhere.

Bruce Paton, a professor emeritus of management and innovation at Menlo College, said the pilot program could provide valuable insights on where low-income residents spend their money the most, which could help the city develop future support systems.

“What can we learn if we give our neighbors in need chances to make their own choices about how to escape from poverty? I think this is a great opportunity for us to explore that,” Paton said at the meeting.
Councilmember Richard Mehlinger said he supports hosting a basic income program, even though he was initially skeptical of the city’s ability to fund and administer it.

“We know basic income programs are very effective at lifting families out of poverty,” Mehlinger told San José Spotlight. “If we can find external funding to support that, then it is absolutely worth doing.”

Contact B. Sakura Cannestra at [email protected] or @SakuCannestra on X, formerly known as Twitter.