HOUSTON — Uplift Harris is Harris County’s first guaranteed income program where eligible households will receive $500 a month for 18 months.
Over 82,000 applications were submitted for the program. Brandon Maddox with Harris County Public Health said the majority of those applications came from the 10 targeted ZIP codes.
“Those high-poverty ZIP codes within Harris County,” Maddox said. “Over the last couple of weeks, we've been conducting the review, verification, and lottery to narrow down to those final 1,928 households.”
According to Maddox the way they narrowed it down was a process. First, there was a screening system that ensured those who were eligible were moved to the lottery system for a chance to be selected.
“Under phase one, it randomly selects around 6,000 people. I think we selected a little bit over to make sure that we had 6,000 available in our pool of eligible applicants. But then from there, those additional six, those not additional, but those we call them the lucky 6,000 had about a one in three chance of being selected for the final program,” Maddox said. “The phase two lottery then looks at those 6,000 and selects the final 1,928 to be to be selected.”
Maddox said notifications were sent out last week to let those who applied know whether or not they’ll be getting the $500 a month for 18 months.
"We notify them through either a text message or email,” Maddox said.
There will be a four-week enrollment period for those who have been selected.
“To identify how they would like to receive those funds, whether it is a direct deposit or on a reloadable direct debit card,” Maddox said.
Maddox said that if people enroll within the first few weeks, the first payment will go out on April 24.
“For those that enroll a little bit later in the enrollment period, that first payment would be in May,” Maddox said.
Out of that 1,928, some of those are from the Uplift Harris Program and some from Access Harris, a program that also provides services for those in need.