California Takes Aim at Homelessness Prevention

For Every Person Housed Through Existing Services, Three More Become Homeless; Lawmakers Are Starting To Ask Why

Lawmakers in the California State Assembly recently passed a bill requiring the state to develop a statewide homelessness prevention strategy by 2027 to reduce housing instability for the most vulnerable Californians.

The bill, Assembly Bill 1924, was introduced by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat, and passed the lower chamber by a 77-1 vote on May 27. It was co-sponsored by the Inner City Law Center, a nonprofit poverty-law firm based in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles.

The legislation would require state agencies like the Interagency Council on Homelessness, State Department of Social Services, and the Office of Youth and Community Restoration to develop housing stability and homelessness prevention plans that identify people at risk of experiencing homelessness and provide targeted interventions, including financial assistance, eviction defense, and case management.

“Preventing homelessness is so much less expensive and more humane than reacting to it. Yet for all of California’s historic investments to address homelessness, the state has done very little to prevent it from happening in the first place,” Mike Feuer, Senior Policy Advisor at Inner City Law Center, said in a press release. “This bill would put California on the cutting edge of nationwide efforts to grapple with homelessness by making prevention a strategic priority.”

Homelessness Prevention

It was introduced at a time when homelessness across the state decreased for the first time in nearly a decade. The latest snapshot data count shows that over 181,000 people were homeless in California last year, a 2.8% decrease from 2024. Even though the topline figure showed an overall decrease, rates of homelessness for families with children and senior citizens increased in California last year as the rising cost of living continued to put additional pressure on these groups.

According to state data, about three people become homeless for every person who receives housing through the services system. While that ratio has ticked down in recent years, it also illustrates why homelessness continues to grow despite billions of dollars being funneled into affordable housing and homeless services.

The ratio of people who become homeless compared to the number of people who receive housing through services also highlights the importance of developing upstream prevention measures to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place.

According to estimates from the National League of Cities, chronically homeless people can cost taxpayers an average of $36,000 per year in services, emergency room visits, and jail stays. For comparison, it costs around $12,800 annually to provide preventive services, such as eviction protection or short-term financial subsidies, that prevent people from becoming homeless.

Impact of Evictions on Homelessness

Homelessness prevention programs can take many forms. A couple of the most common interventions are rental assistance and eviction protection measures. Both programs work to prevent someone from losing their home entirely, either by providing additional funds to cover unpaid rent and utilities or by helping a tenant navigate a complex court case.

Several states have created new rental assistance and eviction defense pipelines since the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020. Even though many people experiencing homelessness can benefit from these programs, they are especially impactful for seniors and families with children who have lost their homes, which are the two fastest-growing groups of people who are homeless.

According to Justice in Aging, a nonprofit advocacy group, these protections can be especially impactful for senior citizens on fixed incomes who are at risk of experiencing homelessness. Seniors who become homeless often lose connections to health care providers, family, and other parts of their support system, which can prolong and exacerbate their spell of homelessness. Eviction is also one of the primary barriers people who become homeless face when trying to find a new place to live.

Similar issues exist for families with children who have become homeless. Evictions can create what are known as “invisible punishments” for families, such as reducing their likelihood of getting into a new home and stigmatizing the family as a risky investment for landlords, according to a 2025 study from the University of Michigan.

“The underlying assumption of both research and policy is that tenants who exit court without an eviction order are not forcibly displaced and, therefore, the costs to them are less significant,” the study reads in part. “This assumption ignores the potential harm and disruption caused by an eviction filing alone.”

Evictions are not only devastating for tenants themselves but can also harm the communities in which they occur. A 2025 study by the research initiative SECURE, or Social Epidemiology to Combat Unjust Residential Evictions, found that evictions were one of the leading causes of premature births and one of the leading causes of infant mortality in the U.S. The stress of seeing a neighbor be evicted can trigger serious physiological symptoms in neighbors as well, disrupting their sense of safety and security.

A New Way Forward

Some places have begun experimenting with new ways of preventing homelessness, like creating help desks for people who are at risk of losing their homes.

In Denver, a nonprofit called Elevated Denver is piloting a homelessness-prevention help desk that has connected individuals and families with services ranging from rental assistance to low- to no-cost auto repairs. The organization takes walk-in appointments, calls, emails, and text messages in both English and Spanish.

Los Angeles County has also launched a help desk for people who have become homeless and are trying to connect with loved ones and services. The Emergency Centralized Response Center (ECRC) helps coordinate responses to homelessness across the county and connect people with services and housing. Since it opened in 2025, more than 1,300 people have connected with permanent housing across the county, and the help desk has responded to more than 20,000 service requests.

“We’ve got to work together with people experiencing homelessness so that we are walking alongside them on their journey,” Victor Hinderliter, director of street-based engagement at the Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services, told Next City. “And that’s why this Help Desk model is so important … We’re not telling you that you need to go to this bed at this shelter and stay there for this long. We’re really figuring out individualized service plans and how we can help people get to where they want to go.”

How You Can Help

Now is not the time to be silent about homelessness in America. Poverty and homelessness are both policy choices, not personal failures. That’s why we need you to contact your officials and tell them you support legislation that:

Streamlines the development of affordable housing

Reduces barriers for people experiencing homelessness to enter permanent housing

Bolsters government response to homelessness

Together, we can end homelessness.