Silicon Valley Guaranteed Income Project
The Silicon Valley Guaranteed Income Project (SVGIP) is a two-year guaranteed income pilot for Santa Clara County families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, providing $1,000 a month in unconditional cash for 24 months to 150 families with at least one dependent child. It is co-led by the nonprofit Destination: Home and the ¡Sí Se Puede! Collective, with the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative running a randomized controlled trial comparing 150 recipients to a 150-family control group. Half of participants were referred through Santa Clara County's Coordinated Entry System and half through ¡Sí Se Puede!'s East San Jose service network, prioritizing people of color, undocumented/mixed-status households, and women-led families. The program is funded entirely by private philanthropic and corporate donors, including Google.org, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Sobrato Philanthropies, and Stanford Health Care. Enrollment began in December 2022 and is now closed to new referrals, with final study results expected around the trial's estimated December 2026 completion.
Family Homelessness, Randomized Controlled Trial, People of Color, Undocumented/Mixed-Status Families, Women-Led Households, East San Jose
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- Destination: Home
- City
- San Jose
- State / Province
- California
- Country
- United States
Contact
- Phone
- +1 408-961-9895
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Application status
- Timed
- Number of recipients
- 150
- Funding type
- Philanthropic, Corporate, Research Pilot
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Currency
- USD
- Total Amount
- 24,000 USD
- Avg. Per Month
- 1,000 USD
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 24 months
- Distribution Type
- Check, Direct Deposit
- Benefit details
Participants receive $1,000 a month with no strings attached; distribution was supported by the financial platform UpTogether, and initial payments in December 2022 were issued as physical checks. Per the study protocol, participants could choose between a flat $1,000/month schedule or a hybrid schedule ($6,500 the first month, then $500/month), with the option to switch after 12 months. Program staff stated the guaranteed income payments do not reduce participants' other benefits. Both intervention and control-group families are surveyed roughly every 6 months for up to 3 years and are compensated for survey participation.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Eligible households must reside in Santa Clara County, include at least one dependent child (17 or younger), and be experiencing homelessness or unstable/unsafe housing, screened using a VI-SPDAT household score of 4-8. The primary applicant must be at least 18 years old, and households with severe substance use or alcohol use disorder (per DAST-10/AUDIT screening) are excluded. Enrollment was referral-only, split between Santa Clara County's Coordinated Entry System and the ¡Sí Se Puede! Collective's East San Jose network, and the program intentionally prioritized people of color, undocumented/mixed-status families, and women-led households (people of color made up 87% of enrolled participants). The project is closed to new referrals.
Demographics
- Minimum age
- 18
- Race / ethnicity targets
- People of color prioritized (87% of enrolled participants), no strict racial/ethnic eligibility requirement
Family
- Family Status
- Parent
- Number of dependents (minimum)
- 1
Housing
- Housing status
- Homeless
Citizenship
- Citizenship / immigration status
- Undocumented
Geography
- US states covered
- California
- Countries covered
- United States
- Counties covered
- Santa Clara
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Participation
- Research / data sharing
- Required
- Research / participation requirements
The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI), led by Principal Investigator Dr. Oanh Nguyen with Co-Investigator Dr. Margot Kushel, is running a mixed-methods randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT05698498) comparing 150 guaranteed-income recipients to 150 control households. All 300 families are surveyed approximately every 6 months (baseline, 6, 12, 18, 24, 27, 30, 36 months) on housing stability, health, and well-being, and are compensated for participation. The trial began in December 2022 with an estimated completion date of December 2026; as of this research no final results/report had been published.
Application Process
- How to apply
Enrollment is referral-only, not a general application. Roughly half of participants were referred through Santa Clara County's Coordinated Entry System for households experiencing homelessness, and half through the ¡Sí Se Puede! Collective's network of East San Jose service providers. The project has been closed to new referrals since shortly after its December 2022 launch.
- Selection process
Eligible referred households (VI-SPDAT score 4-8, at least one dependent child, experiencing homelessness/housing instability, 18+, no severe substance/alcohol use disorder) were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned via a randomized controlled trial to either the guaranteed income group (150 households) or a control group receiving usual services only (150 households).
