California Policy Lab May 2025 Newsletter

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Housing subsidies reduce homelessness by 39% for transition-aged youth

Among young people who “leased up” with a subsidy, 16% experienced homelessness over the next four years, as compared to 27% of youth who did not “lease up.” Seventy-two percent of youth enrolled in a time-limited subsidy program were able to lease up, as compared to 62% of adults in a previous CPL study. Report

CalFresh participation drops dramatically after high school

Among students who received CalFresh benefits during their senior year of high school, fewer than half were enrolled two years later. Complex eligibility rules that apply only to college students may be partly to blame — among students who participated in CalFresh during their senior year of high school and go on to college, only 63% of them meet a necessary exemption (to qualify for CalFresh) during their first year of college. Report

Homelessness Prevention Unit selected as Top 10 Finalist for Ivory Prize

We were thrilled to receive this recognition with our partner, the Los Angeles County Housing for Health Division, which administers the Homelessness Prevention Unit that uses CPL’s predictive analytics tool to identify vulnerable LA residents at the highest risk of homelessness. We’re grateful to everyone who helps make this program a reality, and extend our congratulations to the three winners. Ivory Prize

New resource: Student Supports webpage

We’re excited to share our new Student Supports page which summarizes our work helping college students access basic needs like food assistance. View our participation dashboard, and learn about payment trends, pandemic policy changes, and more.

CPL datasets enable policy-focused research

CPL manages a number of datasets that we make available for other researchers. Data focuses on financial health, homelessness, safety-net programs, and health:

• UC Consumer Credit Panel
• Health Data Access Initiative
• Homelessness Research Accelerator
• Safety Net Dataset

Visit the links for applications, deadlines, current projects, and more.

Welcome back, Brett!

Dr. Brett Fischer, who was previously a postdoctoral scholar at CPL, is returning to CPL as a Researcher in our Berkeley office, where he’ll focus his work on the University of California Consumer Credit Panel. We’re excited he’s back at CPL!

The US Department of Education restarted student loan collections in May, warning that wage garnishment would follow for borrowers who don’t restart their payments. CPL’s widely-covered analysis predicted that 7.8 million borrowers were at high risk of struggling to repay when the pause was lifted. What will this mean for the nearly 4 million Californians who collectively owe $148 billion in student loans? Our upcoming releases of the California Credit Dashboard will help answer that question. Reporters can email press@capolicylab.org to schedule a call with a CPL expert.

California launches Cradle-to-Career Student Pathways Dashboard

Students can use the new tool to better understand their options for education and career planning. The Cradle-to-Career Data System links data across education, social service, and workforce entities, allowing the public, educators, policymakers, and researchers to access detailed info on outcomes and trends, with demographic and regional breakdowns.

Rental subsidies reduce future homelessness for young adults in Los Angeles, study finds

This article focuses on CPL’s new report showing that 16% of transition-aged youth who “leased up” with a time-limited subsidy subsequently experienced homelessness within four years, as compared to 27% who did not lease up.

Measure A oversight panels set five-year goals with metrics to evaluate their success

There are 5 homelessness and affordable housing goals under Measure A, and this article focuses on CPL’s work with our partners (including two reports) to develop metrics to set baseline measures and to set 5- year performance targets.

UC study reveals huge drop in CalFresh access among recent high school graduates

This article focuses on CPL’s recent new report showing “an astonishing drop in access to food assistance for young Californians after they complete high school…” Co-author Professor Jesse Rothstein explained: “…our goal is to shed light on the causes of that drop-off, and if there are ways to address it.”

San Francisco Sheriff brings back ankle monitoring programs

San Francisco is resuming use of electronic ankle monitoring after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court injunction that had barred the Sheriff’s Department from imposing warrantless search conditions on people who were released under its Pre-Trial Electronic Monitoring program. CPL’s 2022 report showed a dramatic increase in the use of electronic monitoring as a pretrial release option in San Francisco.

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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.