One is that, contrary to the standard sort of minimum income or social assistance scheme that exists in a large number of countries, basic income is strictly individual. Paradoxically, it is this characteristic that encourages communities. It encourages living together. This is because standard social assistance schemes take economies of scale into account. A person living on his or her own gets a benefit that is higher than what that person would receive if they were part of a larger household.
This doesn’t happen with basic income. You remain entitled to the same level of basic income even if you move in with someone else, and even if that person has an income from another source. That encourages people to live together as they will benefit from economising on housing, on washing machines, etc. The economics of scale found in joint living are not undercut this time by an income reduction. That's one dimension.
Basic income is more than a way of acquiring some purchasing power. It’s a way of empowering people.
The other dimension is related to the common charge that basic income is hostile to participation in the labour market because it's obligation free. The theory is that basic income would thus hinder a major mechanism for community formation, namely working with others.
