Back in the 1990s, Stockton seemed like a city on the rise. The downtown region was peppered with redevelopment projects, dilapidated lots were turned into public spaces, and a downtown marina and promenade was added to help revitalize the Stockton Deep Water Channel. 

Things were going well enough for the San Joaquin County city until the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis practically decimated local homeowners. Stockton led the nation in foreclosures that year (one of every 30 homes) and local home values plummeted 44 percent. That and other factors led to various publications naming it one of the worst places to live in America. Things got so bad that Stockton filed for bankruptcy in 2012, the second-largest U.S. city to ever do so.  The city eventually exited from Chapter 9 bankruptcy in early 2015.

Still recovering from the lasting effects of the recession, Stockton is embarking on an experiment to help some residents get a leg up. The idea is to provide supplement low-income Stockton families with an extra $500 a month. The pilot program will run for 12-to-18 months and the city will monitor the results in order to determine its effectiveness. The city will consider applicants for the program through June. 

The experiment was proposed by Stockton’s 27-year-old mayor Michael Tubbs, per Curbed SF. Tubbs believes the program, called Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), can be a potential solution to various problems plaguing the city, including poverty and crime.

According to the SEED website, “When the rug is yanked out from underneath families, they find it difficult if not impossible to find financial security. The negative consequences of economic instability are putting an untenable strain on the education system, healthcare, and community lives. As work continues to fragment and wages continue to stagnate, the prognosis will only get worse.” 

According to the U.S. Census, the median income in Stockton was just $46,000 in 2016. Of the city’s approximately 100,000 residents, one in four still lives below the poverty line. 

The program, while controversial in some circles, does have the support of some of the biggest Bay Area tech names. According to Business Insider, Tesla and Space-X CEO Elon Musk predicted in 2017 that a basic income program could become necessary in the future. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also wrote on his Facebook page about a program conducted in Alaska as the gold standard for basic income, encouraging other cities and states to take note.

Stockton’s universal basic income experiment is not without its naysayers. In an interview with NPR, Tubbs addressed doubters who believe universal income will take away people’s incentives to work hard and earn money to improve their lives.

“Some things are rights. And I do think that people deserve a basic economic floor so the bottom doesn't fall out under them. People working 14-hour days, working incredibly hard and being rewarded with wages that haven't kept up with the cost of inflation over the past two generations, that's problematic for me as well. So I definitely believe in the work ethic of working. And I don't think $500 a month, according to the research and evidence from other trials done over the past three decades, will make it so that people won't work.”