A new program kicking off in the city of San Francisco is slated to offer a monthly stimulus program exclusively targeting the city’s transgender residents.
London Breed, the Mayor of San Francisco, officially announced that the city would be taking in applications for the Guaranteed Income for Trans People (GIFT) program Wednesday. This program is wholly exclusive to the self-described transgender residents of the city, and is led by the Transgender District, an area of the city that has been taken over by transgender people. The program is slated to give a group of 55 transgender residents a total of $1,200 a month for a period of 18 months. The move is allegedly part of an effort to rapidly expand equity for transgender people.
“Guaranteed Income for Transgender People (G.I.F.T.) will provide economically marginalized transgender people with unrestricted, monthly guaranteed income as a way to combat poverty our most impacted community members face,” explained one website set up for the program. “The Transgender District and Lyon-Martin Community Health Services, in partnership with municipal city departments in the City and County of San Francisco, will provide 55 Transgender residents of San Francisco County with $1,200 a month in guaranteed income for a year and a half. The program will prioritize enrollment of Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex (TGI) people who are also Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC), experiencing homelessness, living with disabilities and chronic illnesses, youth and elders, monolingual Spanish-speakers, and those who are legally vulnerable such as TGI people who are undocumented, engaging in survival sex trades, or are formerly incarcerated.”
It has been reported by KRON 4 News that this new program is the first of its kind. Working with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the Office of Transgender Initiatives, and the Treasurer & Tax Collector, this new program is being headed up by Lyon-Martin Community Health Services and The Transgender District.
The prospective payments are expected to be unconditional and regular for any of the qualified applicants to create an avenue of steady income for the person to use as they want. The Mayor’s Office also chimed in, via the outlet, that to go along with the temporary income, the program is also expected to hand out various other resources to the tune of “gender affirming medical and mental health care,” and financial coaching classes.
On the program’s website, it announced that it was going to be accepting applications from November 15 to December 15.
“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,” explained the Mayor to the outlet. “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.”