The city of Hudson is expanding its Universal Basic Income pilot program.
In September 2020 the Spark of Hudson partnered with Andrew Yang's Humanity Forward organization to implement the pilot program, providing $500 to 25 recipients each month over the course of five years. Anyone earning less than $35,000 a year could apply. Democratic Mayor Kamal Johnson says 50 new participants were added to the program last month.
"We're starting to see, you know, a lot of people's mental health improve, you know, their times with their family is, you know, being improved, because a lot of people are working multiple jobs, just to be able to barely survive," Johnson said. "And being able to take a little bit of a load off of people, you know, helps out a lot."
Johnson says just over 1% of city residents are receiving UBI payments.
