California Policy Lab August 2026 Newsletter

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Preventing homelessness in the SF Bay Area

55,000 people have applied for help to avoid homelessness in 6 Bay Area localities since 2021. CPL’s report shows who is identified as high risk and prioritized for services. Report and video summary

Assembly Bill 1924 (Gabriel & Quirk-Silva) would establish California’s first statewide homelessness prevention strategy and has successfully passed out of the Legislature with near unanimous, bipartisan support.

CalFresh participation rose among college students

Student participation increased in Academic Year 2023-24 in all three public higher education systems — despite the expiration of pandemic-era policies that expanded eligibility and increased benefits. The continued growth may reflect more recent state policies aimed at enrolling more eligible students, better support for students enrolling in CalFresh, or rising food costs. Data Point

Gang enhancements declined 84% from 2014 to 2025

CPL’s analysis shows trends before and after a 2022 law narrowed the definition of a “criminal street gang.” Half of all individuals who received a gang enhancement from 2014 to 2025 were Hispanic youth aged 18 to 25, while this group made up only 16% of overall prison admissions during that time. Policy Brief

Updated: CA Prison Population Dashboards

Three interactive dashboards track current population, admissions, and releases, with data updated through June 2026. Dashboards are sortable by race, gender, age, offense type, sentence length, enhancements, and county. Dashboard 

Senior data analyst at our UC Berkeley site

Come join our team!

Job posting

Follow our LinkedIn page for future opportunities.

Philanthropy’s role in bending the arc of AI: Sept 2nd webinar

The webinar will focus on AI’s potential to either advance economic justice or deepen inequality. Janey Rountree, one of four speakers, will share CPL’s approach to tracking the labor market impacts of AI. Co-hosted by Philanthropy California and Asset Funders Network. Registration

CPL presents on domestic violence research

Prof. Mia Bird presented on CPL’s evaluation of California’s AB 372 (Statutes of 2018) Domestic Violence Pilot, which authorized six counties to pilot an alternative domestic violence intervention model. AB 1549 (Krell, Statues of 2026) extended the pilot to 2030 and added Sacramento County. The California Association of Counties hosted the summit.

Hosted research: Auto debt in CA and rising debt in NY

Beyond our own research, CPL also facilitates access to our data infrastructure for other researchers.

In CA, auto debt burdens and delinquency rates are higher in majority Black and Latino/a neighborhoods. Blumenberg, Speroni, Siddiq, & Wasserman

Auto loan and credit card payments climbed 50% for some New Yorkers in the past 7 years. Salas & Berkman-Breen

Affordability is ‘central thread’ for Bay Area residents moving within and from California, new study shows

This article cites CPL’s recent Priced Out of the Bay report, showing Sonoma County saw a net loss of about 2,900 people annually from 2014-25, while Napa County lost about 600 annually during that same time.

AI is booming on the West Coast. So why is unemployment so high there?

Ben Hyman is interviewed in this article, explaining that the recently launched California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT) showed unemployment insurance claims among college-educated workers in highly AI-exposed occupations increased after ChatGPT-3.5’s release, as did claims from highly exposed workers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

KQED interview on preventing homelessness in the SF Bay Area

Zoe Klingmann is interviewed about CPL’s new report and policy brief focused on preventing homelessness in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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