The program had the goal of supporting roughly 1,500 families living in poverty with flexible financial assistance.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A proposed guaranteed income program known as Uplift Harris is officially off the table in Harris County.
The proposal spent the last year in limbo after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit to halt the program.
The program, also known as the Harris County Community Prosperity Program, was in the works for the past three years with the goal of supporting roughly 1,500 families living in poverty with flexible financial assistance.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo had proposed $500 monthly payments to households in the county’s top 10 highest poverty ZIP codes for 18 months to help pay for basic needs, like food, rent and medicines.
“That $500 a month would not have made anyone rich, but it would have made a difference,” one Houston resident said. “The state stepped in and shut it down not because it was failing…but because they did not like what it stood for: dignity, stability and fairness.”
State Republicans were quick to reject the proposal, calling it “lottery socialism” while questioning the legality of direct deposits to families. That ultimately led to a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Ellis said the lawsuit came as a surprise.
“Unfortunately in Texas, Attorney General Paxton misled the public and politicized this program,” Ellis said.
Similar programs are in effect in other Texas cities, like Austin and El Paso.
“While extremists across the state seek to pass a radical agenda that perpetuate poverty rather than addressing it, we will continue to fight for families, the working people and for a brighter future for Harris County,” Ellis said.
Meanwhile, the commissioners court voted to reallocate the funds set aside for the program to be used to fund other programs that are already in place to assist those in need.