If some State wanted to take a big bite out of the problems related to unemployment, a good bet would be to revitalize some of their small towns, as a place for thousands of people to “tread water”, until the economy improves.
The idea is to take what had been a farming community, but is now largely deserted, and put a lot of people there with the idea of their having a “guided subsistence community”, that costs a lot less than direct State aid. (And a lot more practical as well, if inflation is high, or a full depression has set in.)
Instead of money, for the most part, the State provides materials and advice on how to farm for self-sufficiency, with towns specializing in a few types of agriculture, then the State doing “commodity swaps”, so towns have most of what they need as far as food goes.
Such a situation is also labor intensive, so adults are working, children are attending school, and State aid is reduced to just those things that cannot be produced locally, such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, etc.
The big goals of such a product are first, the get the unemployed off the dole and get them working and providing for themselves, which takes pressure off the State treasury and narrows the labor market.
Second, to get the unemployed into tolerable housing, out of the cities, making them less vulnerable to crime, and keeping them in better physical condition, and taking an active part in sustaining and improving their lives.
Third, to keep their children in school and motivated to do as well as possible. In addition, learning technical and trade skills that they normally would not learn in the cities.
Fourth, to produce commodities in State that would normally be shipped from out of State, except transportation costs have become too high. Thus, extra goods could be sold in the cities, to start providing money income to the rural towns, improving their standard of living.
An idea like this has a lot of selling points for when times get very hard. It is not ideal, nor is it very long term, but just as a less expensive way for a State to take care of its citizens when there is little or no money left, and the economy has crashed. As such, it beats the heck out of the alternative, which involves a lot of unnecessary suffering.
What you are recommending is a reprisal of this concept out of the past.
http://poorfarm.benjaminbruce.com/history/index.html
There is a road a few miles from my home called “Poor Farm Road”. I have often thought that this makes a lot more sense than trying to put people in homes they can’t pay for and giving out food stamps. It would provide a safety net for those who can’t make it any other way while not promoting the idea that the world owes anyone a living. It would be like belonging to an oldtime farm family, everyone expected to do whatever they were able to do. Most people who were capable of making it on their own would be glad to work hard to make a life of their own rather than staying on the “Poor Farm”. Anyone who caused trouble on the poor farm could always go and work on the chain gang.