San Mateo County launches guaranteed income pilot for domestic violence survivors

San Mateo County’s Board of Supervisors have approved a pilot program — one they call the first of its kind — guaranteeing income for survivors of domestic violence, aiming to help ease the financial burden of leaving an abusive situation.

The program will provide monthly $1,000 payments to 20 survivors of domestic violence with at least one minor child over the course of a year, according to a county press release. The payments will begin in July 2025, said Karen Ferguson, CEO of Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse.

RELATED: Following five domestic violence homicides, San Mateo County launches co-response pilot

The pilot, which is set to run through June 2026, will be run in conjunction with CORA. In addition to operating the program, CORA will contribute $10,000 of funding, according to the press release.

San Mateo County estimates that domestic violence impacts 10,000 people in the county each year, according to the county’s Domestic Violence Council.

“The two biggest factors (in whether someone leaves an abusive situation) are young children, especially, and finances,” said Ferguson. “When you mix that with living in one of the most expensive places in the country, the finances start to outweigh everything else.”

Ferguson explained that for those who are trying to leave an abusive situation, financial constraints are “usually something that stops almost all planning.”

“It is so hard to comprehend how to get over those financial hurdles unless you have some outside wealth, some family wealth,” Ferguson said.

In order to qualify for the pilot program, survivors must be enrolled in services with CORA, have at least one minor child, have an income at or below 30% of the area median income and either live away from or be in transition to living away from their abuser, according to the press release. That figure is set at $47,000 for a family of two, $52,900 for a family of three and $58,750 for a family of four, according to San Mateo County’s 2024 income limits.

The board allocated $348,000 for the program – $240,000 for direct payments to survivors and the rest to pay for administration and evaluation, according to the press release.

“Financial abuse, lack of banking and credit, the need for childcare, the high cost of housing, and legal costs are some of the many complex barriers that prevent survivors from leaving an abusive situation,” said Supervisor Noelia Corzo, one member of an ad hoc committee that studied guaranteed income projects for the county, in the press release. “When survivors do manage to leave, we know that they are at even greater risk of danger and when they need support the most. We hope this pilot will be the lifeline from violence to safety and freedom.”

Programs that provide funding to survivors of domestic violence are often emergency funds that can provide one-time financial assistance for particular issues, such as paying for car repairs, Ferguson said. But these programs present two issues, she added: They do not create long-term economic stability, and they tend to be a more “paternalistic process.”

“Maybe what (survivors) needed more had to do with their childcare, their food bills, getting out from under some personal debt,” Ferguson added. “Those are things you can’t pay for in emergency funds.”

Because domestic violence strips survivors of their “voice and their choice,” Ferguson added, it is important that this program tells them, “ ’We trust you to make good choices.’ ”

Recipients of the funding can use it in any way they choose, whether for car repairs or paying back loans to going to the movies, buying Christmas presents or funding a holiday meal, Ferguson said.

“It’s going to be used a lot of different ways that bring dignity and voice,” she added.

The path of responding to domestic violence follows “crisis response to survival to eventually thriving,” Ferguson said. The county’s new Domestic Violence Emergency Response Team, another pilot program that will pair an advocate to respond to domestic violence calls with police, serves as the “crisis response” portion of that path.

The income program will function to help during the “survival” stage, while other services offered by CORA, such as job training, help get survivors to the “thriving” stage, Ferguson said.

“Can we start to give (survivors) a picture of how (they) will survive if (they) move out of this abuse?” Ferguson added.

A third-party under contract with the county will evaluate the efficacy of the pilot program, according to the press release.

The Board of Supervisors previously approved a guaranteed income program for foster youth of transitional age in July 2023, which led to the committee exploring other areas for similar programs, according to the press release.

“No person should feel trapped in an abusive relationship because they don’t have the economic ability to walk away,” said Supervisor David Canepa, another member of the ad hoc committee, in the press release. “If these funds help determine someone’s decision to protect themselves and their children without fear of not having the means to live, it is money well spent.”

Ferguson added that she has already received phone calls from people interested in the program.

“I think we’re going to see that people are really excited,” she said. “We are seeing it already.”