Transgenders in the Bay Area have until Dec. 15 to file for the new San Francisco guaranteed income program made especially for them. San Francisco city officials announced the program, called the Guaranteed Income for Trans People, or GIFT, this week. It will give 55 low-income transgender residents $1,200 per month for up to 18 months, and is a pilot program that may be the second in the nation, after Palm Springs launched a similar one last year.
The program was launched because, per to the Mayor’s Office, trans people experience poverty and homelessness at higher rates than other people.
The GIFT program will provide “temporary income and a range of wrap-around direct services, such as gender affirming medical and mental health care, as well as financial coaching. Our Guaranteed Income Programs allow us to help our residents when they need it most as part of our City’s economic recovery and our commitment to creating a more just city for all,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement. “We know that our trans communities experience much higher rates of poverty and discrimination, so this program will target support to lift individuals in this community up. We will keep building on programs like this to provide those in the greatest need with the financial resources and services to help them thrive.”
Pau Crego, executive director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives, said, “Even with our rich history of trans advocacy, we see that trans San Franciscans experience poverty at exponentially higher rates compared to the general population.”
The program will cost residents of San Francisco $1 million a year for two years and comes through the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development budget. San Francisco has 873,965 residents in the city limits. According to a federal study, there are about 807 “trans men” in the San Francisco city limits.
San Francisco already has a legally recognized Transgender District, with special rules, incentives, and set asides for transgenders.
This program is the third demographic-specific program of its sort in the San Francisco budget. In 2020, the city starting giving $1,000 monthly payments to “qualifying pregnant people” who are Black or Pacific Islander. The payments continue until two years after the child is born. In 2021, a $1,000 payment was approved for San Francisco artists impacted by the Covid pandemic.
