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Los Angeles, April 30th — The nonpartisan California Policy Lab (CPL) released new research today showing that Time-Limited Housing Subsidies (TLS) significantly reduce homelessness for young people aged 18 to 24 in Los Angeles. The subsidies are provided to people enrolled in homelessness services, and provide short-term financial support to help eligible individuals afford private-market housing. By stabilizing housing in the short-term, the goal is that young people can afford to rent on their own in the future. The researchers found that moving into a home with a subsidy reduced homelessness by 39% over a four-year period.
“Our research shows that Time-Limited Subsidies are an important tool in helping young people avoid homelessness,” explains co-author Janey Rountree, Executive Director of the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site. “There’s also room for improvement, such as increasing the share of young people who are able to lease-up using these subsidies.”
The researchers analyzed outcomes for a sample of 528 transition-aged youth (TAY) who were enrolled in a subsidy program and moved into a rental unit using the subsidy. The average total amount of financial support documented by caseworkers was $5,531, and participants were enrolled in the program for an average of 353 days. The report expands on an earlier CPL report which focused on adults receiving TLS. The subsidies are a significant part of LA County’s strategy for housing transition-aged youth (young people aged 18-24), representing 83% of all permanent housing enrollments in 2023.
“The subsidies represent a key part of LA County’s strategy to help young people avoid homelessness,” adds co-author Brian Blackwell, a Senior Data Scientist at the California Policy Lab. “Future research should explore the racial disparities in participants’ outcomes, as well as shed light on what the biggest obstacles are for roughly one out of four enrollees who are unable to ‘lease up’ using these subsidies.”
Key findings:
- Time-Limited Housing Subsidies reduce homelessness for young adults. Over four years, homelessness decreased by 39% for young people who leased up with a subsidy. The largest impact occurred in the first year, with homelessness reduced by 54%.
- Most but not all young adults who enroll in Time-Limited Housing Subsidy programs are able to lease a rental unit. Of those enrolled, 72% of young adults successfully leased a rental unit. This is a higher rate than the lease-up rate for single adults 25 and older who use the subsidies (62%), but there is still room for improvement.
- Black young adults return to homelessness at higher rates. Although Time-Limited Housing Subsidies reduce homelessness for both Black and Latinx young adults, Black young adults who leased up were twice as likely to experience homelessness again compared to Latinx (20% vs. 10%).
The study used anonymized administrative data from the Los Angeles County Information Hub to compare homelessness outcomes for young people who leased up with Time-Limited Housing Subsidies versus those who did not.
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The California Policy Lab is an institute based at the University of California that generates research insights for government impact. Through hands-on partnerships with government agencies, CPL performs rigorous research across issue silos and builds the data infrastructure necessary to improve programs and policies that millions of Californians rely on every day.