Mercury News: Santa Clara County to give $1,200 monthly payments to homeless students finishing high school

At any given time, about 2,500 Santa Clara County students are homeless. In hopes of pulling some out of poverty, the county plans to give 50 unhoused high schoolers a $1,200 monthly stipend to help them secure lasting homes and cover other essential needs as they enroll in college or start their careers.

The “guaranteed income” program will start next summer with a $3 million infusion from the state. Recipients will be free to spend the money on whatever they choose. The aim is to provide students with temporary support once they’re no longer eligible for some federal aid upon graduation.

The program “will close that benefit gap,” said David Cortese, a Democratic state senator representing the South Bay, during a news conference Friday. “It will stop this cycle, this endless cycle of graduating more and more young people into adult homelessness.”

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