By Esteban L. Hernandez
The Denver City Council on Monday night rejected an attempt to continue funding a universal basic income program.
The big picture: City Council voted 6-6 to earmark $2.5 million for the Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) by amending Mayor Mike Johnston’s recent budget proposal.
- His slim spending plan did not include funding for the experimental program that provided no-strings-attached cash to unhoused people in the city.
Between the lines: Monday’s final vote means the measure failed since the city charter requires a simple majority, seven votes, in order to pass.
- It comes as an about-face after the council’s earlier support to continue funding the program and leaves DBIP’s future in peril.
Flashback: The program’s one-year report revealed that nearly half of all participants had obtained housing.
- Its founder and executive director Mark Donovan has said DBIP could help toward the mayor’s goal to move more unhoused people indoors. On Monday, Donovan rejected the implication that the program had failed.
The other side: The mayor’s administration says DBIP’s results aren’t having a “significant” impact on people’s ability to exit homelessness and he would rather spend money on other housing programs.
- Council members who opposed the expenditure said Monday they worried about using the city’s general fund to pay for it.
Reality check: The changes would have represented a small percentage of the $1.76 billion in discretionary spending in the 2025 budget.
