‘It would be a lifeline': Prince George's County guaranteed income program offers $800 monthly payments

Applications are now open for Prince George’s County’s first ever guaranteed basic income program, which offers payments of $800 a month, no strings attached.

The pilot program will give 175 seniors and young adults the extra cash every month for two years. 

“It gets hard, you know, it gets hard,” applicant Phyllis Wright said. “Most of us are just on a fixed income and barely making it.”

Wright is like many local seniors, and with two teenage honor students under her roof, every month she gets hit with that familiar feeling as she tries to make ends meet. 

“You try to hold on. You just–you pray. God has carried me a long way. I’ve had eight major surgeries and I serve a mighty good God,” she said. 

You don’t have to go far from Wright’s District Heights home to find other seniors in the same boat. Just check the grocery store.

“Everything is much higher. Everything is much higher now,” Wright said. 

That’s why she jumped at the chance to apply for the county’s first ever guaranteed basic income program.

Thanks to a public-private partnership, the pilot program will provide residents like Wright monthly payments of $800 for 24 months, no strings attached.

Wright looks forward to the freedom that money would allow her. 

“The grocery stores, where you don’t have to put something back when you can afford to pay for something that you want to have," she said. "When you go get gas, you don’t have to worry about not filling up your car when you’re going to the grocery stores or when you’re going to pay for your prescriptions, and you can say, ‘Well I can get all of my prescriptions now, I don’t have to wait for them.'"

The program is open to 125 seniors (at least 60 years old) and 50 young people (ages 18-24) who have aged out of the foster care system to help cover basic needs, decrease debt and increase financial stability.

“So many people just need a little bit more to get across the finish line,” Prince George’s County Councilmember Krystal Oriadha said.

She said so far, the response has been overwhelming, and eventually she would like to see the program expand.

Like similar initiatives in Montgomery County and the District, residents have the flexibility to use the money however they want with no need to repay it.

“Once you’re eligible, there’s no requirement on what you spend the resources on. It can vary month to month. You could say, this month I need help with daycare, next month the furnace is not working in our home,” Oriadha said. 

Applications are open until Jan. 1, but Wright isn't wasting any time. 

She filled hers out in two minutes on Tuesday, and she’ll be crossing her fingers and holding her breath until she finds out.

“It would be a lifeline,” she said. “[With] $800 extra per month, I can breathe a little.”

For more information on how to apply visit ucappgc.org or pgcasa.org/thrivegi/.