AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 18, 2026

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2026

AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 19, 2026

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

96

Introduced by Assembly Member Caloza

February 12, 2026

An act to add Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 50259.5) to Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to homelessness.

Vote: majority   Appropriation: no   Fiscal committee: yes   Local program: no

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

Existing law, the Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, beginning July 1, 2026, eliminates the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and instead establishes the Business and Consumer Services Agency and the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. The plan also, among other things, establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness as an independent entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency and renames the existing council as the California Interagency Executive Council on Homelessness, which it establishes within the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. Existing law requires the Interagency Council on Homelessness to set and measure progress toward goals to prevent and end homelessness among youth in California by setting specific, measurable goals aimed at preventing and ending homelessness among youth in the state, as provided.

This bill would establish within the California Interagency Council on Homelessness the Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention (office), with the mission of reducing youth homelessness in the state to functional zero, defined as the condition in which the number of youth experiencing homelessness does not exceed the capacity to provide youth with permanent housing. The bill would impose prescribed responsibilities on the office, including, by September 15, 2027, developing and overseeing the implementation of a comprehensive framework to reduce youth homelessness to functional zero containing specific and measurable goals, as provided. The

This bill would require the office, on or before December 15, 2027, to create and post on its internet website a publicly accessible dashboard tracking the office’s progress toward these goals. The bill would require the office to consult with an advisory committee, as provided, and would require the Governor Secretary of California Housing and Homelessness to appoint the members of the advisory committee by March 1, 2027. The bill would establish the Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention Fund and require that, upon appropriation, moneys deposited into the fund be made available to the council, as provided. The bill would require the office to submit a report on its progress toward achieving its goals to the Legislature and the California Interagency Council on Homelessness council on or before December 15, 2027, and annually thereafter, as provided.

This bill would make related findings and declarations.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Youth homelessness continues to be a significant issue in California. While there has been a notable decrease in youth and young adult homelessness statewide, nearly 10,000 unaccompanied youth still experience homelessness in our state.

(b) An estimated 33 percent Nearly one-quarter of the nation’s homeless youth and young adults live in California. California, of which 60 percent are unsheltered. A significant percentage of youth and young adults who experience homelessness emerge from the state’s foster care system and other systems that serve youth, including the juvenile justice and behavioral health systems.

(c) The state has unique responsibilities to youth who live in or emerge from the state’s foster care system. The state is the parent of youth in foster care and has a duty to ensure their safety, welfare, and protection. One in four youth who have lived in the foster care system report experiencing homelessness by the time they reach 24 years of age.

(d) Youth and young adults who experience homelessness have poorer physical and mental health outcomes, increased likelihood of contact with the legal system, and fewer opportunities to complete high school and pursue higher education and employment.

(e) They also have a higher risk of chronic homelessness as adults. Research demonstrates that approximately 50 percent of adults experiencing chronic homelessness first experienced homelessness by the time they were 25 years of age.

(f) To break the cycle of adult homelessness, it is crucial to achieve functional zero in youth and young adult homelessness, meaning the number of youth and young adults experiencing homelessness does not exceed the capacity to provide youth with permanent housing.

(g) The State of Washington established the nation’s first an Office of Homeless Youth in 2015. Its goal is to prevent state systems from discharging youth and young adults into homelessness. The office’s responsibilities include leading the coordination of a spectrum of funding, policy, and practice efforts related to youth and young adult homelessness, and using data to tailor investments in prevention. Since the office was established, the State of Washington has been progressing toward functional zero in youth and young adult homelessness, with a 40 percent reduction since 2016.

(h) California is now establishing the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. In recognition of the state’s unique responsibilities to youth living in and emerging from the foster care system, the state should create a state-level Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention in the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to serve as the focal point for policy, funding, and best practices on preventing youth and young adult homelessness and deepening collaborations across all sectors of government toward the goal of achieving functional zero in youth and young adult homelessness.

SEC. 2.

Chapter 8.5 (commencing with Section 50259.5) is added to Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

Chapter 8.5. Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention

50259.5.

For purposes of this chapter:

(a) “Council” means the California Interagency Council on Homelessness.

(b) “Functional zero” means the condition in which the number of youth experiencing homelessness does not exceed the capacity to provide youth with permanent housing.

(c) “Office” means the Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention.

(d) “Youth” means an individual under 26 years of age.

50259.6.

(a) There is in the California Interagency Council on Homelessness the Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention.

(b) The office’s mission shall be to reduce youth homelessness in the state to functional zero.

(c) The office shall have all of the following responsibilities:

(1) Developing and overseeing the implementation of a comprehensive framework to reduce youth homelessness to functional zero, which shall include all of the following:

(A) Specific and measurable goals, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(i) Decreasing the number of youth who experience homelessness within 12 months of discharge from a public system of care, including foster care, inpatient residential treatment, and incarceration.

(ii) Decreasing the length and occurrence of youth homelessness caused by a youth’s separation from family or a legal guardian.

(iii) Decreasing the number of homeless youth experiencing homelessness to functional zero, through, among other things, identifying and enhancing programs that address the root causes of youth homelessness, including timelines within which to attain these measures of success.

(B) The office shall complete development of the framework specified in this paragraph on or before September 15, 2027.

(2) (A) Leading the coordination of funding, policy, and practice to prevent youth homelessness across federal and state agencies and departments with jurisdiction over the state’s child welfare, foster care, and juvenile justice juvenile justice, education, and workforce systems, including, but not limited to, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department the Office of Youth and Community Restoration, the State Department of Education, and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, focused on all of the following:

(i) Sufficient stable housing, including, but not limited to, the utilization of housing vouchers, rapid rehousing, rental support, transitional housing, and eviction prevention.

(ii) Economic and employment support, including job training and placement, financial management skills, flexible financial assistance, and assistance connecting with public benefits.

(iii) Education, including support to earn a high school degree and to pursue and complete postsecondary education and training programs.

(iv) Prevention of youth homelessness, including family reconciliation, interventions to prevent exits from public systems of care, including child welfare, foster care, juvenile justice, and behavioral health, into homelessness, flexible financial assistance, and school-based supports.

(v) Health and mental health, including support for youth to obtain and maintain mental health care.

(vi) Services to assist youth to establish and maintain connections with supportive adults and peers.

(B) The office may provide support, advice, or guidance to local agencies and entities, including, but not limited to, county child welfare agencies, and county probation departments, continuums of care, county behavioral health departments, local housing authorities, and local homelessness departments on funding, policy, and practice, including transition planning, housing services, aftercare supports, and other approaches to preventing youth from existing public systems into homelessness.

(3) Developing best practices and policy recommendations, with proposed timelines for completion, to address gaps, shortfalls, and other inadequacies in the areas listed in paragraph (2).

(4) Gathering data, including by initiating data-sharing agreements, and analyzing the data to evaluate the progress toward desired outcomes, including tracking the rate at which youth exit foster care and other public systems of care into homelessness.

(d) On or before December 15, 2027, the office shall create and post to its internet website a publicly accessible dashboard tracking the office’s progress toward the goals specified in this section.

50259.7.

(a) The office shall consult with a 12-member advisory committee with membership as follows:

(1) Two youth with current or previous lived experience with the foster system. homelessness. These youth may also have current or previous lived experience with homelessness the foster care or the juvenile justice system.

(2) Two parent advocates. advocates or legal guardians of formerly homeless youth.

(3) Three advocates for homeless youth.

(4) Two members of the Legislature.

(5) Three stakeholders knowledgeable in or with demonstrated experience with the provision of services to homeless youth, the dependency system, and family reunification.

(b) The members of the advisory committee shall be appointed by the Governor Secretary of California Housing and Homelessness on or before March 1, 2027.

(c) The advisory committee shall meet on or before June 1, 2027, and at least twice each calendar year thereafter.

(d) At least one member of the office shall attend advisory committee meetings to provide administrative support and guidance as needed.

50259.8.50259.9.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, the office shall report on its progress toward achieving the measurable goals in this chapter to the Legislature and the council on or before December 15, 2027, and annually thereafter.

(b) The office shall make the report completed pursuant to this section available to the public on its internet website.

(c) The report completed pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.