PLY: Bipartisan SIB bill heads to the house sponsored by Reps Todd Young and John Delaney while Richmond California uses a SIB programme to deliver a better city.
Young, Delaney Reintroduce Bipartisan Social Impact Financing Bill
Congressman Todd Young
Reps. Todd Young (R-IN) and John Delaney (D-MD) re-introduced their social impact financing legislation on Wednesday as the Social Impact Partnership Act (H.R. 1336). Joining them were Reps. Bob Dold (R-IL), Joe Kennedy (D-MA), John Larson (D-CT), Jared Polis (D-CO), Tom Reed (R-NY), Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Aaron Schock (R-IL). Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) plan to introduce companion legislation in the Senate.
The legislation—which was first introduced by the pair last Congress as the Social Impact Bond Act—aims to expand and improve meaningful social and public health interventions, while driving taxpayer savings. It does so by first requiring the federal government to clearly define desired outcomes for a target population (for example, decreasing the recidivism rate of a given population by a set percentage). It then allows private sector and philanthropic investors to fund the expansion of scientifically-proven interventions aimed at achieving those outcomes. If rigorous independent evaluation confirms that predetermined outcomes are met, the federal government would repay investors with a modest return out of savings realized from a decreased reliance on government programs. If the outcomes are not met, no taxpayer money is spent.
Adding Good Deeds To The Investment Equation
Paul Sullivan – New York Times
Every two years, the residents of Richmond, Calif., a city long known for some of the highest rates of violence in the United States, gather to discuss its priorities. For years, the No. 1 concern was crime.
But things have started to look up in Richmond, a city of about 100,000 people in the midst of Bay Area opulence. At the most recent meeting, Richmond residents were more concerned about blight. An obvious — and seemingly fixable — example was the city’s 800 or so abandoned homes, which cost it thousands of dollars a year to maintain in their dilapidated state.
Enter a twist on social impact bonds.
Jim Becker, president and chief executive of the Richmond Community Foundation, said he had found a way for the city to sell social impact bonds to raise money that the community foundation could use to buy the homes. Local workers would rehabilitate the homes, which would then be sold to people through first-time home buyer programs.