The Young People to the Front Podcast (YP2FPod) aims to elevate youth voices and increase awareness about youth homelessness in LA. By exploring the causes and LA-specific issues that intersect with youth homelessness, as well as highlighting actions that can be taken to solve it, we hope to build a broad support network and deepen our connection to the community.
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The Young People to the Front Podcast (YP2FPod) aims to elevate youth voices and increase awareness about youth homelessness in LA. By exploring the causes and LA-specific issues that intersect with youth homelessness, as well as highlighting actions that can be taken to solve it, we hope to build a broad support network and deepen our connection to the community.
Fighting for Functional Zero: Youth Homelessness and the Future of HHAP
Young People to the Front
1 hour 14 minutes 21 seconds
3 weeks ago
Fighting for Functional Zero: Youth Homelessness and the Future of HHAP
In this episode, host Tonny St. James sits down with Simone Tureck Lee (Director of Housing and Economic Mobility) and Brandon Torres (Project Manager) from John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY) to discuss their groundbreaking report "Investing in Impact: How State Investment Reduced Youth Homelessness in California."
The conversation reveals a remarkable success story: between 2019 and 2024, youth homelessness in California declined by 24% while overall homelessness increased by 24%. This achievement is directly tied to California's Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program and its youth set-aside policy requiring 10% of funding go to serving young people.
But this progress is now at risk. For the first time since 2019, HHAP is absent from the 2025-26 state budget, threatening to reverse years of gains and leave over 50,000 young people without critical support. Combined with federal cuts under the Trump administration, California's youth homelessness response system faces an unprecedented crisis.
This episode breaks down what HHAP is, how it works, why the youth set-aside policy matters, and what listeners can do to advocate for sustained funding.
Young People to the Front
The Young People to the Front Podcast (YP2FPod) aims to elevate youth voices and increase awareness about youth homelessness in LA. By exploring the causes and LA-specific issues that intersect with youth homelessness, as well as highlighting actions that can be taken to solve it, we hope to build a broad support network and deepen our connection to the community.
