Mercury News: A new California bill could provide cash to homeless high school seniors

Student homelessness has risen to pre-pandemic levels, after years of decline. Now, a San Jose legislator has introduced a California bill to provide unhoused high school seniors with a guaranteed income to help them enroll in college or enter the workforce.

A recent data analysis from the Public Policy Institute of California found that after three years of declines, the number of K-12 students experiencing homelessness in the state increased for the 2022-23 school year, with at least 246,000 students having experienced homelessness at some point.

To combat the impact on those students, State Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) introduced SB 333 in early 2023. Under the proposed statewide guaranteed income pilot program – California Success, Opportunity and Academic Resilience (SOAR) –  nearly 15,000 high school seniors experiencing homelessness will receive direct cash assistance.

Cortese said the bill will help overcome a system that often acts as a “conveyor belt” from child to adult homelessness.

“The minute they hand you that diploma, all of your federal benefits end,” Cortese said. “For every other non-homeless student, this is a day of total joy and celebration…These students – they have no home to go to.”

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