You would have to restructure taxation, such that incomes from rent-seeking behaviors and business activities are taxed at a higher (possibly punitive) rate than incomes from voluntary, equivalent-value trades between economic equals.
Otherwise, as has been seen countless times before, the value of the government benefit will be mostly captured by those best positioned to monetize it.
The alternative is to provide the housing and food benefit directly, rather than distributing dollars and employing a middleman. If UBI provided 3000 kcal of food per person per day directly, as pantry staples, rather than with a $500 check, it is much more difficult to skim rents out of that. Even restricted use food stamps fuel scams that convert them into cash. There may be people who rent out their government-provided housing as storage units, storefronts, or offices as they live in a non-gratis premium residence, but assigned tenement space is not quite as liquid as cash in the wallet, and therefore less able to be sucked out of the local economy.
Twice as much of the same apartment you already have is simply less valuable to you than twice what one apartment is worth to you, so anyone trying to rent it out cannot demand the same price as it might otherwise cost for the first apartment you live in. Imagine where you live now. Now make an exact copy of it. Would you pay twice as much as you currently pay to live in both places at once? Would you cook twice as much or twice as often if you had two identical kitchens? Would you sleep twice as long or twice as restfully if you had two identical bedrooms? If housing is a benefit guaranteed by UBI, rental prices for the non-gratis residences crash, because the only people willing to pay are now only those looking for a better place to live, rather than those looking for any place to live.
Whereas if the benefit is up to $500 in cash to the person who rents you an apartment, that's just fueling an economic bidding war where everyone in the auction has another $500 to spend.
Otherwise, as has been seen countless times before, the value of the government benefit will be mostly captured by those best positioned to monetize it.
The alternative is to provide the housing and food benefit directly, rather than distributing dollars and employing a middleman. If UBI provided 3000 kcal of food per person per day directly, as pantry staples, rather than with a $500 check, it is much more difficult to skim rents out of that. Even restricted use food stamps fuel scams that convert them into cash. There may be people who rent out their government-provided housing as storage units, storefronts, or offices as they live in a non-gratis premium residence, but assigned tenement space is not quite as liquid as cash in the wallet, and therefore less able to be sucked out of the local economy.
Twice as much of the same apartment you already have is simply less valuable to you than twice what one apartment is worth to you, so anyone trying to rent it out cannot demand the same price as it might otherwise cost for the first apartment you live in. Imagine where you live now. Now make an exact copy of it. Would you pay twice as much as you currently pay to live in both places at once? Would you cook twice as much or twice as often if you had two identical kitchens? Would you sleep twice as long or twice as restfully if you had two identical bedrooms? If housing is a benefit guaranteed by UBI, rental prices for the non-gratis residences crash, because the only people willing to pay are now only those looking for a better place to live, rather than those looking for any place to live.
Whereas if the benefit is up to $500 in cash to the person who rents you an apartment, that's just fueling an economic bidding war where everyone in the auction has another $500 to spend.