D.C. has experimented with flexible benefit programs, including a "shallow rental subsidy" kicked off in 2017 that offered families $7,200 at the start of the year and allowed families to spend as much as they wanted each month. A report on the first year of that program found that participants appreciated the flexibility and independence of the program – in contrast to more restrictive housing vouchers that governments typically distribute – as well as its less intense application process. The nonprofit Greater Washington Community Foundation also distributed $26 million in cash funds to 60,000 residents in the greater metro area during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The idea of direct cash transfers takes that flexibility even farther, offering families in need a fixed amount of money that can be spent on any expenses. The idea has been slowly catching on in cities and states as an alternative to more targeted government assistance programs or welfare that comes through as a tax benefit only at the time of filing. Stockton, California, was an early pioneer, distributing $500 a month to 125 people for two years in a universal basic income experiment. Los Angeles and Chicago are launching basic income pilots, with recipients chosen at random, and other nonprofits and governments have considered their own cash distribution programs.

"Families know best what they need. Cash resources can go to child care, rent, food, clothes, whatever it takes for a family to get by," said Christopher Wimer, co-director of the Columbia University School of Social Work's Center on Poverty and Social Policy. "Everybody’s in a different situation."

Read the full article about giving cash to new mothers by Jason Plautz at Smart Cities Dive.