I think it's fair to provide incentives (either fixed cash payments across the whole country, or other incentives) for poor people to move to areas where labor is relatively highly valued relative to living costs. A lot of US/etc. welfare policy, because it's funded locally, actively discourages that.
A national basic income would solve this with little overhead, but a more conventional policy with actively marketing cheaper areas to poor people (and, marketing areas where labor is in high demand; maybe providing transportation/transitional housing/etc.) would be a way to help people out of poverty.
People used to migrate for jobs; this happens a lot less now.
> Cheaper areas are usually cheaper because the economy isn't doing so well.
That is basically not true in germany.
We have a lot of smaller cities which are really close to bigger ones or even have small towns which are having a really good economy.
Let's take Freiburg as an example. The city has disastrous rents and has a good economy.
But, if you live in a town in some counties near Freiburg you can have a way cheaper live and still live in a town with a good economy + a fast way to work in Freiburg, which you don't need since there are really good companies, too.
Take Zalando for example they build a huge building down in Lahr, Ortenaukreis near Freiburg or Rust (Europa Park) which will employ a lot of people (not only warehouser, there will be a lot of office jobs as well) and the city is really cheap to live in compared to Freiburg and has some towns around which are even cheaper.
To be fair that's mostly the case in Baden-Württemberg and parts of Bavaria. Additionally the agglomerations in North Rhine-Westphalia. All other states have their workforce more concentrated in the bigger cities. You can move to the periphery but most jobs would include a commute to the next bigger city.
But Germany in general is pretty decentralized and you certainly don't need to move to Munich to get a job – there are many in cheaper cities as well with different sectors usually preferring different regions.
A national basic income would solve this with little overhead, but a more conventional policy with actively marketing cheaper areas to poor people (and, marketing areas where labor is in high demand; maybe providing transportation/transitional housing/etc.) would be a way to help people out of poverty.
People used to migrate for jobs; this happens a lot less now.