California Policy Lab October 2026 Newsletter

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Ending pandemic-era food assistance did not have racially disparate effects

Monthly CalFresh benefits were reduced by $200, on average, when Pandemic-era emergency allotments ended in 2023. Our analysis found this change did not impact racial or ethnic groups differentially. Instead, across all groups, participants with the greatest economic need also had the largest uptick in earnings after the allotments ended. Policy brief

AI-related unemployment claims increased slightly in September

Our California AI-Unemployment Tracker monthly update shows that, after accounting for seasonal declines in unemployment claims that typically occur in September, claims levels for highly-AI exposed workers were up slightly (by 1.2%) relative to the prior month. Sept update 

Chapter on neighborhoods and crime prevention in new book

Dr. Johanna Lacoe and Prof. Steve Raphael co-authored a chapter in A Research Agenda for Neighborhoods, focused on local crime variation and evidenced-based prevention strategies.

Researcher: Homelessness and health policy
(at our UCLA site or remote)

Job posting

Follow our LinkedIn page for future opportunities.

Nov 5th – 7th: CPL at APPAM’s 2026 Fall Research Conference

We hope to see you there! CPL staff will present on education, labor, homelessness, food security, criminal justice reforms, and more. CPL presentations at APPAM

Nov. 9th: Policy briefing: How two decades of reforms reduced racial disparities in prisons

We’ll share new research showing how racial and ethnic disparities shrank after five key policy reforms. Join us for this lunch-time, in-person briefing in Sacramento: Registration

Dec 1st: Policy briefing: CalFresh & college student success

Learn how a recent policy change is expected to increase student access. We’ll also share our research linking CalFresh benefits to improved educational outcomes. Join us for this lunch-time, in-person briefing in Sacramento: Registration

Recording available: Preventing and solving homelessness: emerging research from CPL

Missed our briefing? Watch the recording on our event page.

University of California Consumer Credit Panel

Our dataset of anonymized consumer credit information has been used by 100+ CPL-hosted projects focused on financial health, mortgages, student loans, migration, bankruptcy, and more. Dataset eligibility and application

Hosted research: Medical debt reporting

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

Bans restricting the reporting of consumers’ medical debt makes it harder for hospitals to collect payment. Even-Tov, Lourie, Zhu, & Nekrasov

California economist Swapnil Motghare has helped build AI unemployment tracker

Dr. Motghare shares his career and education path prior to joining the California Policy Lab as a Researcher, where he’s part of a team that built a first-in-the-nation tool linking unemployment insurance claims to occupational AI exposure metrics.

“Is the housing affordability crisis becoming a generational wealth fight?

This article cites CPL’s “Priced out of the Bay” report, showing homeownership rates jumping 38% for people who moved out of the San Francisco Bay Area. CPL’s state-wide “Priced Out” report was recently cited in an OpEd about Prop 45.

California public college students now automatically meet some CalFresh requirements

Jennifer Hogg, Senior Research Manager at CPL, is interviewed about a new state policy designating all undergraduate programs at public colleges as “Local Programs that Increase Employability,” which is expected to increase the number of students who could qualify for CalFresh. CPL has published 10+ reports on CalFresh and college students.

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