In a recent legislative update, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his veto of a bill that would have helped homeless LGBT youth find transitional housing, specifically in San Diego and Sacramento.
The youth would have been placed temporarily in the homes of volunteer host families using a “housing first” approach, which prioritizes finding housing over treatment or therapy, including drug or addiction treatment.
“With our state facing continuing economic risk and revenue uncertainty, it is important to remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications, such as this measure,” he said.
According to the governor, the bill would have created an unfunded grant program to be considered in the annual budget, and this year the Legislature sent bills that—if all were enacted—would have surpassed this year’s budget by $19 billion.
The bill sought to create a pilot program to “identify, screen, and train LGBTQ+ affirming households that host LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness due to family rejection with a safe place to stay,” Ms. Boerner said in a May press release.
If enacted, the state’s housing department would have established a three-year program administered by LGBT-serving community organizations and used funds to place such youth with host families trained in “crisis intervention with a trauma-informed approach,” according to the bill text.
In 2022, there were an estimated 9,000 homeless youth in the state, and in California, currently, there are 60,000 children and youth in the state’s foster care system with around 3,500 of whom “age out” each year leading—in some cases—to homelessness, according to an Assembly Floor analysis of the bill.
No opposition was received for the bill.