Silicon Valley Guaranteed Income Project

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about how unconditional cash payments equivalent to $1,000 for 24 months (also called 'guaranteed income') might help families experiencing homelessness and/or unstable housing in Santa Clara County, California.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. What is the impact of guaranteed income on homelessness and housing stability among families experiencing homelessness or housing instability?
2. What is the impact of guaranteed income on the health and well-being of families experiencing homelessness or housing instability?
3. In terms of size and frequency of cash payments, do families prefer monthly recurrent payments ($1,000/month) vs a larger up front amount followed by smaller monthly payments ($6,500/month, then $500/month)? Is one payment strategy more helpful than the other in terms of achieving improved housing stability, health, or other measures of well-being?

Conditions

• Families Experiencing Homelessness and/or Housing Instability
• Housing Stability

Interventions

OTHER

Guaranteed Income

Guaranteed income payments will be disbursed monthly for a total of 24 months to participants who are randomized to the guaranteed income intervention group. Participants will be given the choice to select from one of two different payment strategies (equal monthly payments of $1,000/month vs hybrid payment schedule with initial amount of $6,500 the first month followed by $500/month x 11 months); payment strategy preferences will be re-assessed after 12 months. The choice of payment strategy will be strictly left to participants to specify.

OTHER

Public Benefits Information Session

All participants (both the control and intervention groups) will be offered the option of attending a Public Benefits Information Session during which they will receive a comprehensive resource directory of public benefit, assistance, and social service programs available to residents of Santa Clara County, have the opportunity to ask questions about enrolling in those programs, and also have the opportunity to seek additional benefits navigation assistance from our community partner, Sacred Heart Community Service. This session is intended to be optional, with the decision to attend and participant to be left to the discretion of each study participant. Attendance is not required for study participation.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Destination: Home SV

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Sí Se Puede Collective

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Sacred Heart Community Service

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• County of Santa Clara Office of Supportive Housing

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• University of California, San Francisco

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Oanh K Nguyen, MD, MAS · University of California, San Francisco

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2022-12-10

Primary Completion

2026-06-30

Completion

2026-12-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations