Every leftist who has engaged with mutual aid knows this and has known this for decades. Glad someone is backing it up with research.

Means testing hurts programs and leads to worse outcomes.

Cash grants are incompatible with the deeply ingrained values and norms of the Protestant work ethic especially as practiced in the US. Until this changes, cash grants to the poor are DoA.

I think this has been piloted in other places too, including the US, with similar results. Similarly, means testing and friends also just makes the program more expensive with no benefits. The problem is those who could distribute have goals that are not just help people. Even people who want to help often do so with biases that make it so the problem is just poor management (because your own relative success is always earned)