R1 In-Person: Denver Basic Income Project Results

Did the Denver Basic Income Project Reduce Homelessness? Results Are In
One In-Person Session
Tue., Feb. 18, 2025, 6:30-8 pm MT
FREE

It’s been a stubborn problem in Denver for almost as long as the city has existed: homelessness. Can the city solve the problem? If so, how? A first-of-its-kind program that’s using money to fight homelessness called the Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) is showing promise, according to researchers who studied DBIP for 12 months. From October 2022 through February 2024, DBIP delivered 12 months of guaranteed income for 800 unhoused people in Denver. DBIP participants were divided into three groups: groups A and B both received monthly cash payments that totaled $12,000 a year. Group B got an additional initial payment of $6,500. And group C got monthly payments of $50 for a total of $600 a year. Findings from the first 12 months of the program are now out, and for the first time ever, the Enrichment Program is inviting a researcher back to share his findings. In this single in-person session, Dr. Daniel Brisson, DBIP principal investigator, shares illuminating details of this groundbreaking study, offers thoughts on how the study might impact Denver’s policies on homelessness and shares DBIP’s next steps and the future of fighting homelessness. “The study’s outcome has been really powerful with participants not only finding housing, but also finding full-time employment,” Brisson says.

Dr. Daniel Brisson is a professor and director of the Center for Housing and Homelessness Research at DU’s Graduate School of Social Work. He teaches research and macro social work practice with a focus on poverty alleviation. He’s also the principal investigator of the Denver Basic Income Project.