Former bankrupt town, $500 a month.

A few years ago, Stokon was the capital of America in terms of homes blocked by banks for failing to be paid by creditors.

The former city of bankruptcy will now become the first city in America where the universal basic income system will be tested. For 18 months, Stoconi will grant 100 residents $500 a month without asking for anything in return.

The purpose of this non-traditional wealth distribution system is to establish a basic floor for living, below which no one should fall.

The concept of basic universal worship has been supported by many company leaders in Silicon Valley, since Elon Musk, Mark Zuckenberg's Richard Branson. It seems like a good way to reduce poverty and protect from the reduction of jobs that will be caused by automation.

“We need to explore ideas like basic universal incomes, so that every person has a protective bandage that will allow them to try new ideas”, Zuckerberg said in May 2017.

The Stocon project also has its roots in Silicon Valley. Among the financial supporters is Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, called the Economic Security Project. A fund has been organised to support research and cultural commitments regarding basic universal incomes. This fund has contributed $1m to the Stokon initiative.

In an interview for CNN Money, Hughes said that when he became part of 1% of the richest, he had realized how much inequality the country's economy has.

In America, the idea is that if you work hard, you can make a lot of money and certainly not live in poverty. But it is not true today and it has been true for decades”, Hughes said. I believe that if we don't make changes today, inequality will increase and question the nature of our social contract”,

Stokon has 300,000 inhabitants, and one in four live in poverty. Thus, it was seen as a good way to test basic universal incomes.

“Stokon is a city that looks much like the rest of America”, said Natalie Foster, cofounder and co-director of the Economic Security Project.

The average income for every family in Stolton is $44,271 a year, compared to 57,617 in the country, according to the U.S. Office of Census. The city also has many diversity, with 70% of its own population declared minority.

A lot of people are born of life by being too much step behind others, as they are born in areas that do not offer a lot of possibilities”, said Stotton Mayor Michael Tubbs. My mom always said I should get out of Stackton. But I want Stotton to be a place where people live well”.

His interest in universal basic income also comes from the ongoing threat to jobs from automation and the opening of factories in other countries.

Tumbs believes that companies that build these technologies have the responsibility to ensure that people are not affected, and that communities become better places.

It's a way to help. Stockton residents are all applying to get one of 100 payments.

My e-mail is filled with messages from people who want to ask how they can apply and if they're too late for the” application, says Lori Oppina, director of the Stokom Economic Power demonstrated, which is managing the project.

The project, expected to begin in 2019, hopes to use the data that will be released to answer questions about basic universal income. For example, how different school participation is of those who receive this income or of making people quit their jobs and start businesses.

The project also has interest in finding ways to empower the female and help with poverty.

Stockholm's experiment is not the first to develop. Similar programs have been developed in Finland, Italy, Uganda, Cambodia, and India.

In Finland, 2000 unemployed people aged 25 to 58 received 560 euros a month. In Cambodia all pregnant women and children received $5 a month. A 12-year programme conducted by Give Directly.org is under way in Kenya, while the Canadian government is developing a similar one in Ontario. Another program is expected to take place in Oakland, California, where 1,000 people will receive between $1000 a month and 5 years.

I've seen that the technological company community has a lot of interest in basic universal income. I think it comes in part from guilt, and partly from optimism”, says Foster. These are people who believe in great ideas, and nothing is too big”.

Foster suggests that other money transfer programs can show how universal basic income can function even more widely. For example, in the past 40 years, Alaskan residents, including children, have received annual payments from the mining rent.

“E use to save for education, cope with seasonal changes at work or pay heat during winter, when it becomes much more expensive”, Foster said.

Allison Fahey, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Poverty, is still early to see if basic universal income will reduce poverty. But she believes that experience in Stockholm and other countries will provide answers.

The “has potential and therefore it is important to take note. It's a very radical way to help. There's elegantness and beauty in its simplicity”, she says.

Rachel Crane, CNN Money