Our Work – Housing
State Investment in Youth Homelessness
JBAY advocates for youth to get an equitable share of state-level investment in addressing homelessness.
Unaccompanied youth up to age 24 account for 10% of California’s homeless population over a three-year average but only receive 3% of federally funded homelessness services. To ensure youth homelessness is addressed in California, JBAY has successfully advocated for a youth set-aside within the state’s large one-time homelessness investments in the last five state budgets, resulting in $633 million in new funding for youth experiencing homelessness.
Policy
JBAY advocates for the inclusion of youth in state investments to address homelessness. In 2018, this included a 5% set-aside in the Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP). In 2019 and 2020, JBAY successfully advocated for an 8% youth set-aside in the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program. In 2021, JBAY advocated to increase the HHAP youth set-aside to 10%, and secured a new 8% youth set-aside in the state’s Homekey program for capital development.
Resources
Research
JBAY conducts research to understand the needs of homeless youth, the impact of the youth set-aside, and to make policy recommendations for addressing youth homelessness. JBAY has found that the approach of a youth set-aside is a successful one: With funding from the FY 2018-19 state budget, local jurisdictions collectively invested more than twice the minimum amount of Homeless Emergency Aid Program funding required to be dedicated to youth (10.8%).
Resources
Technical Assistance
The Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program is administered by the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to the state’s 44 homeless Continuums of Care, 13 largest cities and 58 counties. HHAP provides local jurisdictions with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address immediate homelessness challenges.
Homekey is administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development to eligible public entities that apply for the funding, including counties, cities, Public Housing Authorities and tribal entities. Homekey provides funding for capital development.
JBAY provides technical assistance to organizations interested in seeking HHAP funding from their local entity administering funding, or partnering with a local public entity to apply for Homekey to serve homeless youth or youth at risk of homelessness.
JBAY also maintains rosters of the Continuums of Care, cities, and counties receiving HHAP funding from the state, in addition to a roster of youth providers funded through HEAP and HHAP, and a roster of affordable housing developers.
