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Single caregivers in areas with a high cost of living and lack of affordable childcare experience disproportionately higher rates of financial precarity that impact well-being, curtail academic performance, and undermine parenting efforts (Parolin & Lee, 2022). Single parents experience a “triple bind” at the nexus of inadequate wages, inadequate policies for families and inadequate material resources (Niewenhuis & Maldonado, 2018, p.1). In response, the City of Cambridge, which boasts one of the US’ most expensive rental markets, provided a $500 monthly guaranteed income for 18 months to 130 randomly selected single caregiver households living below 80% AMI to answer the following questions, How does GI affect quality of life, subjective sense of self, income and academic performance in children?
Methods
The authors conducted a mixed-methods (QUANT + QUAL) Randomized Controlled Trial to determine the impact of GI on single caregivers who were majority female and African American with an average of two children (N= 156 control; N= 130 treatment). Both treatment and control completed 4 surveys (baseline, 6 months, 12 months, end line) and a purposive sample of 30 (N= 20 treatment; N= 10 Control) participated in a semi-structured interview at the study’s midpoint. The protocol was focused on health, care work, decision-making, and financial well-being. A grounded theory approach was utilized for latent analysis with focus and theoretical coding prior to integrating findings into the quantitative strand (Charmaz, 2014). Quantitative analyses were conducted between groups using OLS and chi-square.
Results
On average, the treatment group reported higher income (RI=13.97%), a greater ability to absorb a $400 emergency (x²=3.768, p=0.052), lower housing cost burden (RI=18%), and less food insecurity than control. The treatment group consistently reported higher rates of full-time employment, with the largest difference occurring at 12 months (40% vs. 28%; x²=35.64, p<0.01), but the burden of unpaid care work and lack of affordable childcare did limit the power of GI with many describing being forced into dependent relationships out of necessity rather than choice to secure housing and/or childcare. Narrative data indicated that parents felt an increase in time which they reported as influencing how they engaged with their children’s education and parenting activities. This increase in time was reflected in academic performance. Children in treatment group households achieved higher grades, had fewer absences, and their parents had higher educational aspirations than those in comparison group households. Finally, towards the end of the experiment participants in both treatment and control reported feeling seen by elected officials and noted movement on childcare and housing waitlists.
Conclusions
Unlike many places facing a housing and childcare shortage in the US, Cambridge has heavily invested in the structural supports surrounding the “triple bind” faced by single caregivers. Although the GI is an individual-level intervention to a structural problem, these findings point to the role that GI can play in buffering the acute impact of financial precarity through buying parents time and flexibility while other structural interventions (housing; childcare; education) in the safety net catch up.