In a bold step that few American municipalities can claim, Cook County has effectively made its guaranteed minimum income effort permanent. The county’s 2026 budget, passed unanimously by the Board of Commissioners, allocates $7.5 million to continue the initiative, which began as a two-year pilot that gave thousands of residents $500 monthly. What had been an experiment is now formal policy, with implications for how local governments think about providing direct cash assistance.
The first pilot, begun in 2022, gave no-strings monthly payments to about 3,200 households selected through a lottery to help low-income residents stabilize their finances and reduce stress, as well as to add flexibility in how they could spend the funds. Recipients said they used the money to pay for necessities such as food, rent, electricity, and travel. The county’s survey data suggested positive results: better financial security, less anxiety, and improved mental health.
What’s different about this move is not only that the program will now be permanent, rather than merely being established temporarily or as an experiment, but also its scale and the message it sends: Direct cash aid isn’t just for emergencies or small pilot schemes anymore — it’s going to be part of the budgetary baseline. Other cities and counties have experimented with similar guaranteed-income (GI) programs, but few have converted them from pilot to permanent status. With this new law, Cook County would now occupy a singular policy position among local governments in the US.
Budget documents indicate that the $7.5 million set aside in 2026 is intended to sustain the program, although the exact number of recipients and monthly payment amounts may need to be adjusted. County officials said the move to permanent status was prompted by positive findings from the pilot and by the continuing economic pressures residents face — high housing costs, inflation, stagnant wages, and the still-lingering financial effects of the pandemic. In their resolution, officials wrote that the investment is designed to “provide direct unconditional monetary support to contribute toward Minnesotans living healthier and more stable lives.”
Critics warn that the program, while a step in the right direction, leaves unanswered critical questions. Will the effects of the payments persist in the face of expectations that they should? Can the county scale the program without losing its edge or feeling budget pressure? And will other counties or states be pressured to do the same, with fiscal and political consequences? Direct cash is only one piece of a much larger social-support ecosystem, experts note, and without work opportunities, affordable housing, and access to health care, among other valuable goods, it may not be enough to guarantee sustained mobility.
Yet the permanent status holds significance. For participants in the pilot, it means they’re not just part of an experiment—they're a step towards a sustained commitment. For policymakers, it represents a change in how local government thinks about helping. And for other districts watching closely, it offers a kind of case study: if Cook County’s model works, pressure will mount on prominent localities to follow suit.
Originally a two-year experiment in basic income, it isn’t going away. With $7.5 million earmarked and a line item in the budget, the county is gambling that handing out unconditional cash support can move from fringe policy to mainstream local government practice. Whether this becomes a blueprint or a cautionary tale will depend on what ensues: implementation, oversight , and long-term effects.
