The Role of Universal Basic Income in Preventing and Ending Homelessness

Abstract

There are growing calls for Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a means of reducing poverty and addressing the changing nature of work. UBI involves the provision of a cash payment to all adult citizens, which is sufficient to live on and either does not phase out as earnings increase or does so slowly for higher incomes. Despite many theorized benefits and beneficiaries of UBI, its implications for preventing and ending homelessness have not been explored. Accordingly, this article provides an overview on UBI and its evidence base, and then discusses how UBI could help to structurally prevent and end homelessness by reducing values-based exclusion in the provision of income supports, promoting choice in housing, facilitating workforce returns and buffering against automation job losses, and improving health and well-being. Like any transformative policy shift, there are also risks associated with UBI, which largely lie in the details of how it is designed and the political context in which it is implemented. Nevertheless, given its potential, now is the time to properly trial UBI as a structural intervention for preventing and ending homelessness.

Keywords

• universal basic income
• guaranteed annual income
• homelessness
• structural prevention
• housing first