$34 Million in New Funding to Assist Current & Former Foster Youth with Stable Housing Headed to Counties

California counties are currently in the process of accepting $34 million in new funding to assist current and former foster youth with stable housing. This funding was included in the 2022-23 state budget, championed by Assemblymember Phil Ting.

The funding, which will be provided annually expanded two existing programs administered by the California Department of Housing and Community Development to county child welfare agencies: The Housing Navigation and Maintenance Program (HNMP), formerly named the Housing Navigators Program which grew this year from an annual $5 to $13.7 million, and the Transitional Housing Program (THP) which grew from an annual $8 million to $33.3 million.

Both programs serve youth ages 18 through 24. HNMP’s priority population is both current and former foster youth, offering housing navigation to help youth secure and maintain housing. The program was expanded in the state budget and eligibility was amended to help align HNMP with federal housing voucher programs so that youth with these vouchers could receive more support securing housing.

THP’s priority population is former foster youth and is most commonly used to fund local THP-Plus programs, which provide 36 months of transitional housing and supportive services. The expansion will result in an estimated 800-person increase to the THP-Plus program’s existing housing capacity of 1,300.

HCD has issued funding acceptance materials to counties, which over the next few months will secure board resolutions to accept the funding and submit the necessary forms to HCD. To view allocation amounts for the two programs by county, follow this link.

Report Finds That K-12 Schools Dramatically Undercount Homeless Students



A new research paper from the Center for Public Integrity suggests roughly 300,000 students entitled to rights reserved for homeless students are unidentified by the school districts mandated to help them. This research found that 2,400 districts did not report having any homeless students despite levels of financial need that make those figures improbable. In nearly half of states, tallies of student homelessness bore no relationship with poverty, which runs counter to evidence supporting the connection between poverty and housing instability.

The analysis focused on non-charter districts in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years. The study applied a common benchmark used by education researchers — that one of every 20 students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunches experience homelessness under the federal definition. More than 8,000 districts did not meet the one-in-20 guideline. The authors note that while it’s possible that some school districts genuinely have fewer homeless students than this benchmark predicts, multiple researchers reported that they see the one-in-20 threshold as a conservative estimate.

The researchers point to factors that may be leading to this under-identification. First, the federal government, state education departments, and families have few options to hold districts accountable if they fail to properly identify or provide assistance for students experiencing homelessness. Federal programs also provide school districts little financial incentive. Money to serve homeless students is limited – the available funding amounted to about $60 per identified homeless student nationwide before the pandemic – and does not increase as districts identify more students.

Chapin Hall Found 11% Fewer Entries into Foster Care in States with Earned Income Tax Credits

Chapin Hall conducted research on the relationship between child welfare involvement and key financial investments, uncovering that states with refundable earned income tax credits, like the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), were found to have 11% fewer entries into foster care compared to states without a credit. In addition to state-earned income tax credits, this research examined expanded Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child support, subsidized childcare, and minimum wage increases.

Findings are captured in a recorded webinar, fact sheet, and slide deck. The research indicates that addressing economic and concrete supports for families living in poverty are key to eliminating the need for long-term foster care and to address disproportionate outcomes in care based on race. For each additional $1,000 spent per person annually on public benefits programs, there was an associated reduction in child maltreatment reports, substantiated child maltreatment, foster care placements, and child fatalities due to maltreatment. Every $1 increase in the minimum wage was associated with a 9.6% reduction in neglect reports.

To learn more about how to claim earned income tax credits, the new Foster Youth Tax Credit, and the benefits of tax filing for transition-aged youth, view a factsheet developed by JBAY. To learn more about Chapin Hall’s research, follow this link.

Federal Advocates Request Support for Permanent Enhancements to Earned Income Tax Credit & Child Tax Credit by 12/5 

The First Focus Campaign for Children is requesting signatories on a sign-on letter to Congressional leaders urging them to act in support of the improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). The deadline to add your organization to the letter is 2:00 pm PT / 5:00 pm ET on Monday, December 5, 2022. Sign-on here. 

President Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) enacted a temporary increase for those without children in the EITC from $543 to $1,502. The CTC was increased from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child for children over the age of six and $3,600 for children under the age of six and raised the age limit from 16 to 17. These changes are set to expire in the 2022 tax year.  

In 2021, the CTC brought 3 million children in the United States above the poverty line. The letter indicates that as the COVID-19 pandemic financial support dwindles, children and families are once again at increased risk of falling below the poverty line. It goes on to state that recent economic inflation further compounds the risk that families will struggle with the high costs of food and rent, and cautions that allowing these tax credits to expire would put millions at increased risk and back into poverty.

Upcoming Webinars, Trainings, and Events

• $1,083 reasons to file your taxes – California’s New Foster Youth Tax Credit



• 2023 Reproductive Health Equity Project Virtual Conference

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