Denver has embarked on a revolutionary socio-economic experiment: in recent months, the American city has provided several hundred of its most vulnerable citizens with a basic income, without any conditions. This initiative, beyond expectations, has produced tangible results, offering a new perspective on the power of this solution in improving the quality of life.
The Denver Basic Income Project
The challenge: fighting poverty and homelessness. The approach? Offer a basic income to the most vulnerable citizens, without any conditions. In exchange for nothing. The results: surprising.
Il Denver Basic Income Project, founded by Mark Donovan in 2021, aimed to test the effectiveness of basic income as a solution. Donovan, a successful entrepreneur who made his fortune with his clothing company Wooden Ships and an investment in Tesla, used some of his earnings, along with a $2 million contribution from the city, to finance this ambitious project.
The results
After just 6 months, the results were remarkable. Most people who received basic income showed significant improvements in their living situation. At the start of the test, less than 10% lived in a house or apartment. Six months later, more than a third had their own home.
Again: At the start of the initiative, 6% of people in the group receiving $1.000 a month were sleeping rough. Six months later, that percentage had dropped to zero. Even those receiving just $50 a month showed improvements, with the percentage of rough sleepers dropping. from 8% to 4%.
Beyond the numbers: stories of transformation
Behind this data there are real life stories. People who, thanks to a basic income, have been able to pay off debts, repair their cars, find a house or enroll in a course. Concrete steps that can bring people out of poverty and reduce their dependence on social assistance programs.
Denver's results follow those of San Francisco, Santa Fe and Houston, also in the USA, and Helsinki in Finland. Often, when we talk about homelessness, the focus is on mental health and addiction issues. The experiments conducted in these cities are placing strong emphasis on housing costs among the main causes: this underlines the importance of addressing the issue from an economic perspective, as well as from a health perspective.
Basic income: we can make an impact
Poverty is not an immutable fate, and fighting it produces benefits throughout society. Fighting the prejudice according to which "you shouldn't give money to those who don't work in exchange for nothing" is fundamental in many cases that require the triggering of a virtuous chain of events.
Basic income is a challenge to be accepted with bold and well-thought-out solutions. It's a lifeboat for civilization. The first cities (or countries like Canada) have thrown a stone into the pond, creating waves of change that could extend far beyond its borders. It is up to us, as a society, to pick up the baton and work together to build a future in which everyone has the opportunity to live with dignity.
