San Francisco introduces guaranteed income for trans residents
San Francisco has announced a program offering as much as $1,200 per month to “economically marginalized transgender people.” Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) is the first such initiative to focus solely on this group, according to a statement from the city released on Wednesday.
Just 55 individuals will be selected for the program, which is intended to “help address financial insecurity within trans communities” and will also include “wrap-around direct services such as gender-affirming medical and mental health care, case management and specialty care services, as well as financial coaching,” the city revealed.
The application allows residents to self-identify with 97 different gender options – among them “stud,” “travesti,” and “I don’t use labels” – as well as 19 sexual orientations and 18 pronouns. Applicants must live in San Francisco, earn less than $600 per month, and identify as transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, or intersex (abbreviated as TGI).
Applicants who are also “black, indigenous or people of color (BIPOC), experiencing homelessness, living with disabilities and chronic illnesses, youth and elders, monolingual Spanish-speakers, and those who are legally vulnerable such as TGI people who are undocumented, engaging in survival sex trades, or are formerly incarcerated” will be given preferential placement, according to the program’s website.
The initiative will be funded by the taxpayer, with $2 million appropriated from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development over two years. Its implementation will be led by trans-focused healthcare provider Lyon-Martin Community Health Services and The Transgender District, a neighborhood organization in San Francisco’s Tenderloin that claims to be the first legally recognized transgender district in the world.
A 2015 survey found 33% of transgender residents of California were living in poverty, compared to 12% of the general population.
Targeted guaranteed-income programs are becoming increasingly popular in the state of California. The City Council of Palm Springs voted in March to put together a guaranteed income initiative that would provide $600 to $900 monthly income to trans and non-binary residents, and Oakland made headlines last year with a $500 monthly income program that excluded white residents.
