Existing law establishes homeless youth emergency service pilot projects in the City of Los Angeles and the City and County of San Francisco providing services to homeless minors, including food and access to an overnight shelter and counseling to address immediate emotional crises or problems. Existing law also requires similar programs to be established in the Counties of San Diego and Santa Clara, and all of these programs to be operated by an agency in accordance with a grant award agreement with the Office of Emergency Services.
This bill, until January 1, 2029, and upon appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes, would require the County of San Diego to establish the Unicorn Homes Transitional Housing for Homeless LGBTQ+ Youth Program, to be
administered by a local community-based organization chosen by the county that provides a majority of its services to the LGBTQ+ community. The bill would require the community-based organization to provide transitional housing for LGBTQ+ youth, 18 to 24 years of age, inclusive, experiencing homelessness due to family rejection, with the ultimate goal of reunification with the youth’s original family. The bill would require the community-based organization to place eligible youth with volunteer host families who meet specified criteria and who are able to provide crisis intervention with trauma-informed practices.
The bill would require the community-based organization to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2028, which would be required to include specified information, including the number of times the organization was contacted by youths, how many of those contacts became participants in the program, and how many of those
initial contacts became repeat contacts.
By imposing a new duty on the County of San Diego, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Homeless Youth Act of 2018, requires the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to set and measure progress towards goals to prevent and end homelessness among youth in the state. Existing law establishes various homelessness assistance programs, some of which are administered by the State Department of Social Services and local partners, such as the Bringing Families Home Program, and certain others by the Department of Housing and Community Development and local partners, such as the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, which in part targets transitional housing. Existing law sets forth various provisions on the establishment of, or access to, homeless shelters.
Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services licenses and regulates youth homelessness prevention centers as group homes, and
transitional housing placement providers for purposes of operating transitional housing placement programs for minor foster children or nonminor dependents, as defined. Under existing law, transitional housing units include a host family, a staffed site, or a remote site for independent living, as specified.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would create a transitional housing program for homeless youth.