A multimillion-dollar universal basic income program is set to be relaunched in a major US city, providing direct cash payments to its residents. Mayor Brandon Johnson has announced an allocation of $32 million to restart the Chicago Resilient Communities pilot program, according to CBS News. The initiative aims to distribute $500 per month to families facing financial difficulties for a period of one year. The funding for the program will come from the $1.9 billion that the city received from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021. The city of Chicago is reviving the guaranteed income program in order to utilize the remaining ARPA funds, as returning them to the federal government next year is a possibility. The original Chicago Resilient Communities program was introduced by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2022 to assist 5,000 low-income households in recovering from the effects of the pandemic. The specifics of eligibility for the rebooted program have not been disclosed by the Johnson administration. In the initial pilot, participants had to be Chicago residents aged at least 18, with a family income at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Line, and facing financial difficulties as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The exact number of families who will receive the monthly $500 payment under the relaunched program is also unknown at this time.