Cities across the commonwealth have been experimenting with ways to help residents who are struggling with economic insecurity. One approach is a guaranteed-income program. Research shows the money received from these programs is largely used to pay for basic essentials.

But one of the biggest challenges is finding funding.

Here in Boston, a new pilot program is launching in August 2025 that will provide a guaranteed income specifically to young adults who are experiencing homelessness. GBH’s Morning Edition guest host Craig LeMoult spoke with the program’s chair, Matt Aronson, as well as Deandre, a participant who asked to use just his first name. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Craig LeMoult: Matt, let’s begin with you. Your program is called BAY-CASH. How does it work?

Matt Aronson: BAY-CASH is what we call a demonstration program. We’re trying to demonstrate to the state of Massachusetts that this kind of programming, a guaranteed-income program with supportive services, should be part of our toolkit that we use to prevent and end homelessness for young adults.

This specific program is for 24 months of cash — that’s the equivalent of $1,200 a month, two payments of $600, and a one-time drawdown of $3,000. Think first and last month’s rent, security deposit, your car breaks down, medical expense, or a crisis.

It’s two and a half years of supportive services, so we have services built in. There’s no penalty if you don’t use them, but these are support services that young people have asked for. So, you get a navigator and that navigator is not only helping you identify resources that you need, that person also is going to provide financial coaching.

LeMoult: Deandre, can you tell us a little bit about your story and how you came to qualify to be part of this program?

Deandre: Absolutely. So I’m born and raised in Boston, specifically, Dorchester, Massachusetts. I at one point was living on my own but ran into a problem and needed to go back to depend on my family, but then when that avenue didn’t necessarily work out, I found myself in a situation of having to go into the youth homelessness programs such as Bridge Over Troubled Waters and Y2Y.

As I was going through those different circumstances in my life, I found out about BAY-CASH, and I heard about the excitement of potentially getting cash payments to help with all the necessary things I have to go through on a regular basis. I was absolutely ecstatic.

LeMoult: And then you were just recently chosen to be part of this program?

Deandre: That’s correct, I was, and I’m very appreciative of that opportunity as well.

LeMoult: So what will being part of this program mean for you?

Deandre: Well, for starters, food. Also, being able to get fresh and clean clothes without having to necessarily go through donations. When I have housing again, it will be rent and paying for all those expenses — light bills and gas bills, because sometimes when you get rent, you don’t always have the necessary utilities included.

Then on top of that too, savings, hopefully, and maybe I want to get a car because eventually I’m going to need a car. I can’t take the MBTA forever because even the MBTA is starting to get more expensive, too. So, things of that nature.

LeMoult: Matt, one of the issues that other guaranteed-income programs have had is finding the funding to do this sustainably. They’ve mostly been paid with one-time federal funding. Cambridge and Salem both used federal pandemic relief funds that don’t exist anymore. How did you pay for this?

Aronson: From the very beginning, we have been interested in this being long-term sustainable. Most of our funding comes from private individuals and families. We’ve gotten some great funding from some foundations who were early on, and we’re really grateful to the city of Cambridge since we did get some of that one-time funding.

LeMoult: After this demonstration project, the hope is that the state will step up and begin to support this continuing into the future?

Aronson: Absolutely. This is about state-level policy change. We think this is something that the state has demonstrated they are capable of doing through the existing homeless youth grants. What we need to do is provide them a little more evidence that our flexible program — a little bit more flexible than what they’ve developed — is something they can trust and make sure that the budget is there and the language is there so each of the 10 regions feels confident that they can do this.

Guaranteed income is a really old idea, the Founding Fathers and Thomas Paine wrote about it. This is an old idea that comes up every crisis, every decade or so, and it usually goes away because there are all sorts of cultural factors in the United States that tell us pull [yourself] up by your bootstraps. There are all sort of challenges that make it hard for us to trust folks with cash, particularly folks who have been struggling, who don’t have a lot of money, experienced homelessness, particularly young folks, and particularly Black, brown and queer folks.

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LeMoult: So, there’s just 15 people in this program. What’s the scope of the need? How many young people are homeless in the Boston area?

Aronson: Yeah, we are under no illusion that the 15 begins to address the challenge. It’s about one out of ten 18 to 24 year-olds, which in the Boston area would give you a few thousand young people that at some point during the year are going to experience some form of homelessness.

LeMoult: What did it feel like to be chosen to be part of this pilot program?

Deandre: I felt blessed, very blessed and very appreciative of the opportunity. I know for a fact that with me receiving an opportunity like this, I’m not going to let the folks down. I’m going to make sure that I use this to get myself out of this situation.

LeMoult: What are your long-term goals?

Deandre: I want to be an architect. I’m born and raised in the city and my talents are artistic. I’m an artist performing, but I’m also very visual. I went to an arts high school and then now I’m in architecture school for college and my goal is to help rebuild the city, the city I was born and raised in. Then eventually I’d like to get married and have kids and all the other boring stuff, but that’s just pretty much what I’d like to do.

LeMoult: Matt, I know there was a report that came out from Boston Indicators and the advocacy group Children’s Health Watch that showed that participants in these kinds of programs use the money towards the necessities of life.

Aronson: We get asked this a lot. There’s some skepticism around and moralizing why folks are poor, why folks who are experiencing homelessness that causes us to suspect, “Oh, they must be wasting their money.” Over and over, the evidence is consistent that folks use these to meet their basic needs.

Deandre: Just because we’re experiencing homelessness doesn’t mean it has to be a barrier for us to stop living our lives and that we can’t escape it. With more programs such as BAY-CASH and with more people spreading awareness about the issues that are going on in our community and people that are willing to make a step and do something about it, it’s all about making sure that the next person doesn’t have to experience what you’ve had to experience. So it’s about doing what you can to eradicate homelessness, and I think that should be everyone’s ultimate goal.