Inés moved into a hotel when her college dorm closed for winter break because she had nowhere else to go.
Alicia stayed in an abusive relationship because she couldn’t afford rent on her own.
After losing both of her parents and cycling through foster care, Katrina pitched a tent alongside a highway because she had nowhere else to sleep.
These stories are heartbreaking—but they are also increasingly preventable.
On June 29, Governor Newsom signed California’s 2026–27 state budget, investing $900 million in the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program. Because HHAP reserves 10% of its funding for youth homelessness, [after administrative funding is subtracted], this budget will provide at least $83 million to support housing and services for young people experiencing homelessness.
For thousands of young people, this investment means another chance at stability. It preserves the infrastructure California has spent nearly a decade building—and the progress that has made our state a national leader in reducing youth homelessness.
But while this budget deserves celebration, it also highlights a challenge we cannot ignore.
California is still relying on one-time funding to solve a long-term problem.
Progress Worth Celebrating
Over the past eight years, California has fundamentally changed its approach to youth homelessness.
Rather than expecting young people to compete with adults for limited homelessness resources, the state created a dedicated youth set-aside within HHAP. Every county, large city, and Continuum of Care receiving HHAP funding must invest at least 10% in youth homelessness.
That simple policy change has transformed what is possible.
Since 2020, youth homelessness has declined 34% statewide, while unsheltered youth homelessness has dropped by an extraordinary 52%.
More than 50,000 young people have received prevention services, housing, rental assistance, and supportive services through HHAP-funded programs. State evaluations continue to demonstrate that these investments are working.
For the first time, California is no longer asking whether youth homelessness can be reduced.
We know it can.
Why This Budget Matters
This year’s budget ensures that the progress we’ve made won’t disappear overnight.
Without continued HHAP funding, communities across California would have faced difficult decisions: eliminating prevention programs, reducing housing capacity, laying off staff, and turning away young people who need help.
Instead, the state’s investment preserves the minimum level of funding needed to sustain existing services while lawmakers continue working toward a permanent solution.
That matters because youth homelessness is one of the strongest predictors of chronic adult homelessness. Every young person we help avoid homelessness today represents a lifetime of better outcomes—and lower public costs—in the future.
My Story Is Not Unique
This issue is deeply personal to me.
When I graduated from high school and exited foster care in the early 2000s, there was no extended foster care until age 21. There was no transitional housing for former foster youth. No statewide youth homelessness funding. Very few campus supports.
I was handed a small check and sent on my way.
I spent the summer couch surfing until my college housing opened. Throughout college, I worked while carrying a full course load simply to afford food and rent. More than once, I wondered whether I could keep going.
California looks very different today because people chose to invest in young people instead of accepting homelessness as inevitable.
Thanks to years of advocacy, the state has expanded extended foster care, created transitional housing programs, increased housing vouchers, strengthened financial aid, and built a statewide youth homelessness response through HHAP.
Those investments are changing thousands of lives.
The Work Isn’t Finished
One-time funding cannot support permanent systems.
Communities cannot hire staff, develop housing, or build long-term partnerships when they must wonder every year whether funding will disappear.
California has already shown that sustained investment produces measurable results. We should not have to fight each budget cycle simply to preserve programs that are clearly working.
Our goal should be bigger.
Experts increasingly believe California can achieve functional zero youth homelessness—the point at which homelessness among young people is rare, brief, and quickly resolved because communities have sufficient capacity to respond.
We are closer than we’ve ever been.
But reaching that goal will require California to move beyond one-time appropriations and commit to a permanent, sustainable investment in youth homelessness.
What’s Possible
The young people behind these statistics remind us why this work matters.
Today, Inés graduated with honors from UC Berkeley and has been accepted into two master’s programs in public policy.
Alicia now supports youth in transitional housing, helping other young people find the stability she once lacked while pursuing a master’s degree in public administration.
Katrina is studying nursing and business at San Diego Mesa College while working with children with autism.
Their stories are not exceptions. They are proof of what happens when young people receive the support they need at the right moment.
No young person should have to choose between an unsafe relationship and homelessness.
No young person should have to spend a school break in a hotel because campus housing closed.
No young person should ever sleep in a tent alongside a highway.
This budget keeps California moving in the right direction. Now we must finish what we started by making youth homelessness funding permanent.
Notes: Information included in this blog is derived from an op-ed by Sarah Pauter, JBAY Executive Director, originally published in The Imprint on June 22, 2026. Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of the youth mentioned.