Guaranteed Income Pilot Launches for Homeless Youth: Up to 105,000 Young Adults Could Receive $1,400+ Monthly

The Youth Homelessness Guaranteed Income Pilot Program Act of 2025 is setting up a major experiment to tackle youth homelessness: giving young people direct, no-strings-attached cash payments, plus serious support services. This bill is essentially a randomized control trial (RCT) testing whether guaranteed income is the fastest way to get homeless young adults back on their feet.

The Big Picture: Cash and Coaching for 36 Months

Here’s the deal: The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) has two years to launch a pilot program targeting up to 105,000 young people who are currently experiencing homelessness. To qualify, you must be an emancipated minor or between 18 and 29 years old. The program lasts for 36 months straight, and every participant gets a suite of support services, including housing navigation, financial coaching, workforce development, and education on tenant rights (Sec. 4(c)(2)).

The most unique part is the cash component. Participants will be randomly split into two groups. Only one group—the “payment-receiving group”—will get monthly payments. The amount is set high: it will be the greater of $1,400 per month or the adjusted Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom home in the participant’s ZIP Code (Sec. 4(c)(3)). If you’re in a high-cost area, that FMR could push the payment well over $1,400. Participants can choose to get this monthly, or they can even opt for a lump sum of the first 12 months’ payments all at once.

Why This Matters for the Budget and the Benefits

For anyone worried about how this impacts existing safety nets, the bill is explicit: the payments do not count as taxable income under the IRS code, and they will not affect a participant’s eligibility for any other Federal, State, or local assistance programs (Sec. 4(e)). This is a huge policy move, as guaranteed income pilots often struggle with participants losing access to vital benefits like SNAP or Medicaid because the cash pushes them over the income limit. This bill bypasses that hurdle entirely.

For taxpayers, the bill is designed to prove its worth. It mandates a rigorous study by an external partner to track if the payments lead to better housing stability, improved physical and mental health, and, critically, if they reduce the overall cost to society. The idea is that stable income might save the government money in the long run by reducing reliance on emergency services, healthcare, and incarceration (Sec. 5(b)).

The Administrative Hurdles and Oversight

Getting this off the ground requires massive coordination. First, HHS has to build a database of homeless individuals across the country, though it’s prohibited from including citizenship status or Social Security numbers (Sec. 4(b)(1)). They will rely on agencies like the Departments of Education, Agriculture, and HUD to help identify and submit information on eligible young people.

To guide the process, the bill creates the National Youth Economic Advisory Council (Sec. 6). This Council, made up of experts in cash transfers, nonprofit leaders, and representatives from marginalized communities, will advise the Secretary on everything from selection criteria to how to adjust that Fair Market Rent calculation. While the Council is set up to provide expert guidance, it is generally exempt from standard Federal Advisory Committee Act transparency rules, which could mean less public insight into its operations and recommendations (Sec. 6(h)).

Finally, the bill takes privacy seriously. Any person who knowingly shares or tries to obtain the confidential participant data under false pretenses faces a fine of up to $25,000 (Sec. 4(d)). The entire database must be destroyed 30 days after the program’s final report is submitted to Congress.