Research, Results & Policy Impact Across California
2025 was a landmark year for the California Policy Lab. Across education, homelessness, criminal justice, and economic inclusion, our researchers produced new evidence, built groundbreaking data tools, and helped inform government solutions to improve people’s lives. Below are some of the highlights from a year of research and policy impact.
CPL Updates
- Opened a new Sacramento office to strengthen CPL’s engagement with state policymakers
- In February, we hosted a one-day conference on homelessness prevention in Los Angeles attended by 200 of the nation’s top prevention researchers, policymakers, and practitioners
- Won the 2025 UCLA Public Impact Research Award for Transformative Research
- Nationally recognized as a Top 10 finalist for the 2025 Ivory Prize
Economic Inclusion
New CPL reports on Californians’ financial health, the reach of safety-net programs, and evolving labor market dynamics:
- Light-touch outreach (emails, text messages, and robocalls) were a cheap and effective way to increase take-up of anti-poverty benefits
- 11,000 people filed for unemployment insurance after the Los Angeles wildfires, impacting workers well beyond the burn zones
- Credit delinquencies and student loan delinquencies are alarmingly high
- Launched a major project to generate the most precise estimates yet of AI’s impact on the labor market
- Delivered a keynote address on harnessing administrative and workforce data to support Californians at the national convening of state labor agencies
In the news: Spectrum, LAist, and CBS KCAL covered our wildfire report; Sacramento Bee, Fox KTVU, LAist, Business Journal, SF Chronicle, and many other local stations covered student loan delinquencies; NY Times and LA Times cited a paper we co-authored on life expectancy after Covid.
Homelessness
New CPL insights on preventing and addressing homelessness:
- Early evaluation results of the Homelessness Prevention Unit show a 71% reduction in homelessness for participants
- We helped guide the spending of $1 billion annually in homelessness spending by developing baseline metrics and trends on Los Angeles’s Measure A
- Transition-aged (18-24) youth who receive time-limited rental subsidies in Los Angeles are 39% less likely to experience homelessness and are 16% more likely to lease-up than other single adults
In the news: PBS Newshour featured our public-private partnership with LA County; LAist and LA Times covered our homelessness prevention outcomes report; the LA Times published an editorial on insights shared at CPL’s prevention conference, and also cited the Measure A baselines
Criminal Justice
We published 8 reports and policy briefs on criminal justice in 2025:
- A 5-part series on California’s “Second Look” resentencing policies, showing:
- 12,000 people resentenced since 2012, and more than 9,500 released
- Proposition 36 (three strikes reform): More than 2,200 released, more than ⅔ of whom were 50+ years old at release. These releases were re-convicted of new offenses within 3 years at much lower rates than the average release (25% vs 42%).
- Felony Murder: Median age at the time of the offense was just over 21, and for 75%, this was their only prison sentence. Fewer than five people were reconvicted of a new serious or violent felony within one-and two-years of their release.
- Three years after release, 57% of people resentenced under Prop 47 were convicted of a new offense, and the majority of new convictions were for misdemeanors.
- Released 3 new California Prison Population Dashboards in partnership with the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code
- People 50+ years old make up 30% of the current prison population and have served long sentences (18+ years)
- Among men admitted to prison for robbery in 2024, White men consistently received shorter sentences than men of other racial and ethnic groups, both statewide and across California’s three largest counties.
- Women’s prison admissions have declined over 70% since 2006
In the news: CalMatters and Univision TV highlighted our Second Look findings; Davis Vanguard interviewed us on pandemic-era changes in LA’s bail policies and on Second Look
Education
New CPL findings on food insecurity among college students:
- Pandemic-era policies nearly doubled CalFresh eligibility (to 69%) among low-income community college students
- CalFresh benefits for students are more generous than many students expect ($161/month for UC undergrads, $123 for community college students)
- CalFresh participation drops sharply after students graduate high school
- In 2022-23, 14% of CC students, 21% of UC undergrads, and 12% of UC graduate students participated in CalFresh
In the news: CalMatters and Inside Higher Ed focused on our new research; EdSource, KCRA, and The Daily Californian relied on CPL’s participation estimates for their reporting on the government shutdown. Our estimates of the student impacts of the federal government shutdown were widely cited.
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