A guaranteed basic income program in Minneapolis found that even after a year of giving recipients $500 a month, they weren't working any less

• Minneapolis's guaranteed basic income program has shown promising results after a year.
• The two-year GBI program gives $500 monthly to 200 low-income families, no strings attached.
• Researchers found the payments boosted financial stability and didn't cause recipients to work less.

The city of Minneapolis is experimenting with a guaranteed basic income program, and the preliminary results are promising.

Minneapolis has provided $500 monthly payments with no strings attached to 200 low-income families for the last year.

Numerous other cities nationwide have also tested basic income schemes among small populations recently. Many of them have seen success in alleviating poverty and homelessness — despite concern among some that such programs could cause vulnerable populations to stop seeking work, choosing instead to rely on the government.

A year into the two-year Minneapolis study, researchers and organizers said there is no evidence that the monthly payments have caused recipients to work less.

The study's authors found that recipients have "better mental health, more stable finances, and higher food security than households with the same poverty status and from the same areas of the city" who weren't part of the study.

"Recipients spend their GBI money — which represents about a one-third boost to the total annual income of a typical participant — on major monthly expenses like rent and food. We do not find evidence that payments cause recipients to work less, a common concern about GBI programs," researchers said in the summary of results, which were released earlier this month.

Other cities experimenting with guaranteed basic income schemes have also reported encouraging results. In Denver, a program giving the city's poorest residents $1,000 a month has been so successful it's been extended for another six months.

As a result, more and more cities are trying it out, especially as homelessness and wealth inequality in many parts of the country have gotten worse. Flint, Michigan — for example — recently opened enrollment for a basic income program for pregnant mothers, giving them a lump sum during pregnancy and $500 a month for their baby's first year of life.

Despite the promising results, some lawmakers are fighting such programs in their own cities and states.

In Iowa, two Republican state representatives are pushing legislation to ban basic income programs, Business Insider reported. A lawmaker in Texas, meanwhile, called a newly launched basic income program in Harris County, which includes Houston, unconstitutional.