NEW YORK — Democratic mayoral candidate Dianne Morales says her plan for a guaranteed minimum income would not only be measured in cash support, but also on providing more resources to New Yorkers in need.
“This is not something that we’re talking about that would be provided in lieu of critical services and support, and it’s not necessarily calculated by just sort of providing cash support,” Morales said in a Tuesday night interview with Inside City Hall. “It’s really the idea of raising the floor for some of the most vulnerable and marginalized people in New York City.”
Morales, a former executive of nonprofit organizations, told NY1 political anchor Bobby Cuza that basic income could be a combination of services and access to resources.
Morales did not provide details in the interview on how she would calculate this combination, and she did not provide further details on which specific services and resources she would want low-income New Yorkers to receive through basic income. In general, she has campaigned for increased services, including rent relief for tenants and small businesses, and housing for homeless New Yorkers.
Several of Morales’s opponents — including Brooklyn Councilman Carlos Menchaca and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who popularized the call during his Democratic presidential run last year — have also called for some type of basic income. But Yang calls for direct cash payments, giving New Yorkers living below the poverty line an average of $2,000 per year, and told NY1 he would like people to use that money to support "small businesses that are struggling to stay open, especially locally owned minority- and women-owned business." The program is projected to cost at least $1 billion in city money and require additional private-sector funding. It’s not clear how much Morales’s basic income pledge would cost.
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Watch the full interview above.
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