u/AdQueen714 — reddlx

Finally some good news on FYI housing vouchers (HOME for Foster Youth Act)

Has anyone else had the nightmare of navigating FYI housing vouchers? A bipartisan group in Congress just introduced the Housing Opportunities for Moving to Empowerment (HOME) for Foster Youth Act on May 29. It would:

Double the application window to 180 days in both directions, so before OR after aging out (the current window is way too narrow).
Stop counting Chafee Education and Training Vouchers as 'income' that disqualifies you.
Strike the language that's been misread to require you to be homeless already to qualify.

Per the co-sponsors, this 'doesn't create a new program or spend another taxpayer dollar.' It just fixes what's broken in the existing FYI program.

It's about we get some prevention-focused legislation instead of crisis-focused. Fingers crossed it passes.

Source: The Imprint

u/AdQueen714 — 7 days ago

▲ 40 r/Sacramento

Homelessness up 13% in Sac County, but shelter and transitional housing use up 22%. Some thoughts on what it actually means.

The 2026 Point-in-Time Count numbers dropped: [LINK: https://www.sacramentostepsforward.org/sacramento-2026-point-in-time-count-report-more-people-staying-in-shelter-and-transitional-housing-than-ever-before/ ].

Headline number everyone's quoting: 7,458 people experiencing homelessness, up 13% from last year. That's discouraging and it's getting plenty of coverage.

The number I haven't seen anyone talking about: shelter and transitional housing use is up 22%. The region added nearly 500 beds and they're full. That's not a wash with the 13%. It's evidence that when capacity exists, people use it. The gap between people unsheltered and people getting indoors is closing in one direction even while the overall number grows.

I work at a transitional housing program in Sacramento that serves young adults aging out of foster care, so I have a horse in this race. But I want to put the question out neutrally because I think this sub has a wide range of takes on homelessness policy:

Does this data change how you think about transitional housing funding?
What's not in the PIT Count that you wish was?

The PIT methodology is imperfect (it's a single-night count, undercounts youth especially), so curious how locals are reading the numbers vs. what you see on the ground.

u/AdQueen714 — 14 days ago

▲ 2 r/Fostercare

9th Circuit lets Ocean S. v. L.A. County move forward. Federal court will hear claims about unsafe housing and lack of mental health care for transition-age foster youth

The 9th Circuit just issued its decision in Ocean S. v. County of Los Angeles (Case No. 25-1354, filed May 15). [LINK: https://e1.nmcdn.io/assets/crsite/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Ocean-9-decision.pdf]

Quick rundown of what actually happened, since I've seen some social posts overstating this:

The court ruled that federal courts don't have to abstain from hearing the case under the Younger doctrine. That means the lawsuit gets to proceed in federal court instead of being kicked back to state proceedings. L.A. County had argued the federal courts should stay out.

What the ruling did NOT do: it didn't decide whether foster youth have standing to sue. That question was dismissed as moot because the complaint had been amended.

Also worth noting: it's a memorandum disposition, marked "not for publication." It resolves this case but isn't binding precedent on other circuits or future cases.

Still, it's a meaningful procedural win. The plaintiffs (a putative class of 16–21-year-old foster youth in L.A. County) alleged the county failed to provide safe foster placements, mental health services, and other required services. Now that lawsuit gets to actually be heard on the merits in federal court.

Full disclosure: I work at AcademySTAY, a small transitional housing program in Sacramento for young adults aging out of care. We're not party to the case. I'm sharing because the underlying lawsuit is worth watching, and I haven't seen much discussion of it outside legal trade press.

Questions for the sub:

Has anyone here seen coverage of this outside legal trade press? Feels under-reported given the stakes.
For folks following similar litigation is anyone tracking parallel cases in other circuits?
Anyone know if JBAY, Children's Rights, or the National Center for Youth Law have weighed in publicly yet?
For people who aged out of California foster care: does this ruling match what you experienced, or feel like an outlier?

reddit.com

u/AdQueen714 — 14 days ago