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Transgender residents in Palm Springs, California are eligible to receive a UBI of up to $900 per month solely for identifying as transgender or nonbinary — no strings attached.

The city council in Palm Springs, California unanimously approved the allocation of $200,000 to two nonprofit organisations to study a pilot plan for a universal basic income programme to support transgender and nonbinary residents, the first programme of its kind amid a national wave of legislation aimed at LGBT+ people

The allocation approved on 24 March was requested by mental health and medical services nonprofits DAP Health and Queer Works, which will design the program, with input from the national Mayors for a Guaranteed Income project, a network of US mayors advocating for guaranteed income plans...

...A pilot version of the programme would provide monthly payments between $600 and $900 to 20 people in Palm Springs, and would enroll another 20 transgender and nonbinary residents who would serve as a control group allowing the organisations to study the degree to which payments and services are most supportive...

...The city’s allocation would also allow the organisations to apply for a share of a $35m fund from the state providing grants to guaranteed income plans around California.

The groups may also turn to the city for additional matching funds, though some city officials appear reluctant to commit to broader funding efforts just yet.

Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton, the first openly transgender mayor in the state, expressed some reservations about the plan while stressing that the need for financial assistance is “absolutely real.”...

...“My serious concern is the ability of these guaranteed income programs to scale up to the magnitude of the issues that are before us,” Mayor Middleton said...

...Mayor Middleton said that the state, not municipalities, should be addressing economic inequality, antipoverty measures and related issues.

“For every individual that we are addressing through these programs, a dozen more are not getting aid through these programmes. and that is a very serious concern,” she said.

The proposal comes as Republican legislators across the US file dozens of bills criminalising transgender healthcare, banning transgender athletes from sports and censoring classroom instruction against issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity, among other targets...