Assembly Education Committee OKs homeless youth bill

(The Center Square) – A California bill that aims to help homeless teens is one step closer to becoming law.

Assembly Bill 673, authored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley, passed out of the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. It now goes to the Assembly Committee on Human Services for further debate and testimony.

The bill would require the California Department of Education to oversee a new pilot program – the Unaccompanied Youth Support Program.

This program would administer five-year grants to school districts throughout the state to provide temporary housing for homeless 16- and 17-year old students enrolled in school but who are not in the foster care system, according to the bill analysis. School districts that get grant funding would have to work with other local agencies that specialize in providing those kinds of services, like nonprofits or local health and human ...