Guaranteed Income Works: Data from Louisville, ky

YALift! participants demonstrated greater levels of financial stability than control group members, which continued past the end of the pilot. 

At the end of the pilot, participants were more likely than the people in the control group to be able to afford a $400 emergency expense (42 percent versus 13 percent) and more likely to have more than $500 in savings (27 percent versus 11 percent). 

Six months after payments stopped, participants continued to have higher rates of savings and a better ability to afford a $400 emergency, compared with the control group.

About half of the YALift! interviewees reported that guaranteed income helped them pursue education or training. Some of them were already in school before they began receiving the payments, and they used it to pay for school supplies and tuition and other bills. The financial stability from guaranteed income enabled them to better balance the demands of work and school. 

Additionally, after the pilot, there are some hints in the data that YALift! participants might have increased their work effort: they were 11 percent more likely to be working than were control group members (70 percent vs. 63 percent) and 32 percent more likely to report working full-time, though the differences were not statistically significant.

Receiving the guaranteed income allowed YALift! participants to stabilize their housing situations in multiple ways, from being able to move into their own apartment and stay current on rent, to experiencing more peaceful dynamics at home. 

There was an increase in independent living among participants, who were 42 percent less likely to be living with friends or family.

By the end of the pilot, participants were 70 percent less likely to have been evicted than people in the control group.

YALift! participants reported more peaceful household dynamics than the control group at the end of the pilot (these findings were statistically significant) and after the pilot (no longer statistically significant).

Although YALift! participants reported feeling somewhat less stressed than control group members, scores on the scales were not significantly different between the groups. However, most interviewees reported that guaranteed income reduced their stress levels. Part of this relief came from the ability guaranteed income gave them to pay their current bills and expenses, such as car payments, car insurance, rent, or other essential expenses.

In a few rare cases, guaranteed income allowed participants to get out of situations that were creating psychological harm. These examples included the financial resources to exit and rebuild after an abusive relationship and to take self-care steps after having loved ones killed by gun violence.

In large part because they were relying less on their support networks, interviewees described enjoying a newfound sense of independence, which made them feel proud and increased their self-esteem.

Interviewees described several primary ways guaranteed income affected their setting and pursuit of goals. First, some participants explained that the opportunity to spend the GI in any way they wanted led them to consider taking steps they had never thought about before. In addition to the participants who discovered new aspirations during YALift!, several said the GI helped them revisit or achieve goals they already had.