California Policy Lab July 2024 Newsletter

Preventing homelessness for youth aging out of foster care in Los Angeles

Each year, around 1,000 youth age out of foster care in Los Angeles, and many subsequently experience homelessness. A new, mixed-methods study shows which youth are at highest risk of homelessness and how predictive analytics could be used to prevent that from happening. The report also inventories transition services and housing programs available to transition-aged youth, and shares insights from former foster youth and staff who work with them about challenges they faced. Report

NASI Unemployment Insurance Task Force releases final report 

Till von Wachter, faculty director of CPL’s UCLA site, co-chaired a 24-member bipartisan group tasked with making recommendations to update unemployment insurance. The report offers a series of bipartisan options for vital reforms necessary to update the system before the next economic downturn or pandemic occurs. Von Wachter led a CPL team that authored more than 20 publications on UI during the pandemic, research which helped inform the task force’s report. Report

Recent research using the University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP) 

The UC-CCP launched in 2020, and is CPL’s most requested data resource, with more than 50 projects currently underway. Recent research using data from the panel includes:

• The Financial Consequences of Legalized Sports Gambling
• Driving A-loan: Automobile debt, neighborhood race, and the COVID-19 pandemic
• The Student Loan Payment Pause: Assessing Financial Distress in California
• Why Do So Many People Repay Unenforceable Debt?  Exploring External and Internal Motivations for Debt Repayment

Interested in applying or learning more?  Visit the UC-CCP webpage to see approved projects, FAQs, and an application link.

New data resource: the Los Angeles Prosecution Data Hub

In an interview with Arnold Ventures, Alissa Skog, a researcher at CPL’s UC Berkeley site, shares how the LA Prosecution Data Hub will increase transparency, help inform decision-making, and streamline the data access process for individual researchers. Arnold Ventures is supporting CPL’s work to launch the Hub. Interview

Welcome new CPL staff

Cara Tan will be working on CPL projects focused on the social safety net, health, and education. Gaby Lohner is working on CPL’s student supports project that focuses on CalFresh access for California college students.

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Research Manager for Homelessness Research

Graduate Student Researcher

CPL’s partnership with LA County to use AI to prevent homelessness

In this in-depth interview, Janey Rountree explains that CPL is partnering with LA County to use AI to predict and then prevent homelessness among LA residents. For more background, see CPL’s report explaining how the predictive model was developed and tested.

High interest rates are hurting people. Here’s why it’s worse for Californians

This article cites the California Credit Dashboard’s most recent update, showing credit card delinquencies climbing to nearly 5%, a rate not seen since late 2009.

Too many people, too few homes

Janey Rountree explains that decades of disinvestment in housing, especially affordable housing, has contributed to our country’s current homelessness crisis. Rountree is the executive director of CPL’s UCLA site, and a co-author of a number of CPL reports focused on homelessness.

Please support our work
Consider donating to support our work generating research insights for government impact. If you are interested in making a larger gift, please reach out to Evan White or Janey Rountree to discuss opportunities to support CPL.