Sandricka Henderson receives support through Los Angeles County's Housing for Health Division's Homeless Prevention program. Feb. 29, 2024.
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Jules Hotz for CalMatters
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Topline:
L.A. County is experimenting with machine learning to prevent homelessness, and so far nearly 90% of participants have kept their housing.
Why does this matter? It comes at a time when more than 180,000 Californians have no place to call home, and people are ending up on the streets faster than government agencies and nonprofits can get them into housing.
How does it work? L.A. County’s algorithm analyzes data from residents’ emergency room visits, jail stays, use of food assistance and more, and has sparked interest from Silicon Valley to San Diego.
But how well does it work? Final data on the program isn't out yet. But so far, pairing AI with human intervention has led to positive results.
You’ve likely heard about AI powering driverless cars, writing term papers and creating unsettling deep fakes.
Can that same technology also prevent people from becoming homeless?
That’s what Los Angeles County is trying to find out. Officials there are using AI technology to predict who in the county is most likely to lose their housing — and then stepping in to help those people with their rent, utility bills, car payments and more.
It’s still an experimental strategy. But the program has served more than 700 clients since 2021, and 86% have retained their housing. It comes at a time when more than 180,000 Californians have no place to call home, and people are ending up on the streets faster than government agencies and nonprofits can get them into housing. Officials all over the state are turning to methods aimed at preventing homelessness before it happens.
L.A. County’s algorithm analyzes data from residents’ emergency room visits, jail stays, use of food assistance and more, and has sparked interest from Silicon Valley to San Diego. Final data on the program — which has roughly $26 million in federal COVID funds and is expected to end in 2026 — aren’t yet out. If it’s successful, it could have major implications for helping cities and counties spend their limited resources more efficiently.
“If we know who people are who unfortunately are going to have that experience, and they’re already county clients, it’s a real opportunity to do something early on in their lives to prevent that from happening,” said Dana Vanderford, associate director of homelessness prevention for L.A. County’s Department of Health Services.
Dana Vanderford, Associate Director of Homelessness Prevention at Housing for Health at Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, in Los Angeles on Feb. 29, 2024.
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Jules Hotz for CalMatters
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How does artificial intelligence predict homelessness?
The idea started in 2019, when UCLA’s California Policy Lab began experimenting to see if it could use machine learning, combined with L.A. County data, to predict homelessness. Then, the county paired that with money to intervene before people ended up on the street – the program is predominantly funded with $26 million in COVID-era funds from the federal American Rescue Plan.
The UCLA researchers start with a list of 90,000 people who recently used services from the county’s Health Services or Mental Health departments. Using 580 factors, the computer ranks those people from 1 to 90,000 based on their risk of becoming homeless. The people deemed to be highest-risk tend to show up in emergency rooms and jails at high rates, and have high usage of services such as CalFresh food benefits. But the model takes many more data points into consideration.
For example, if people receive services in many different geographic areas, it could mean they’re couch surfing — bouncing from one precarious living situation to the next.
“You sort of let the computer learn what it finds to be predictive over time,” said Janey Rountree, executive director of the California Policy Lab at UCLA.
To train the algorithm, the researchers showed it a list of people who became homeless along with the services they used prior to losing their housing. Then, they had the algorithm practice “predicting” homelessness using old data, and checked to see if it was accurate. When they were satisfied, they started using it for real predictions.
How well does it work? Among the 90,000 people the researchers started with, 7% became homeless in 18 months. Among the 10,000 people the algorithm deemed to be highest risk, 24% became homeless.
If they were targeting fewer people (say 1,000 instead of 10,000), it would be even more accurate, Rountree said. But social workers aren’t able to get in touch with many of the people on the list, and others don’t agree to participate in the aid program, so they have to cast a broader net.
Is a computer really better at guessing who will become homeless than human social workers trained in this work? Rountree says yes — 3.5 times better, to be exact.
The problem with humans, she said, is that they’re biased toward the people they know.
“It’s just human nature to want to help the people that you’re in contact with,” she said. “They all seem housing-unstable and at high risk. You want to help those individuals or those families in front of you. But not all of them are going to become homeless and be on the street or use shelter if they don’t get assistance.”
Caseworkers also often prioritize people with lower needs, Rountree said. Someone who recently lost their job but otherwise is stable gets preference over someone facing ongoing struggles with their mental health or addiction, because the stable person is easier to help. But the stable person may not be the one who needs the help the most.
There’s also a belief that people with higher needs won’t spend the money they’re given wisely, Rountree said. But AI doesn’t have that bias, so it ensures the money goes to who needs it most.
The results are apparent. People the algorithm targets are much more likely to have been incarcerated, sought substance use treatment, had mental health issues or been hospitalized than the people who seek aid through L.A. County’s other homelessness prevention programs, Rountee said. In that way, this program fills a hole in LA County’s net of services, she said.
L.A. County’s other, more traditional programs geared to prevent homelessness rely on people reaching out to request help or on case workers referring clients.
Interestingly, they aren’t duplicating efforts. There’s almost no overlap between the people targeted by the AI algorithm and those served by traditional prevention programs, Vanderford said.
“We know there’s a significant population of folks who if somebody doesn’t reach out to them to offer assistance, they might lose their housing right out from under them without reaching out for assistance themselves,” she said.
Then, a human steps in
Four times a year, the Policy Lab researchers send L.A. County a list of residents the AI program has deemed most likely to become homeless. The county then mails those people letters, telling them they’ve been selected to participate in the program. After that, a social worker cold-calls them to tell them the good news.
Frequently, the person at the other end of the line is convinced it’s a scam. After all, how often does someone legitimate call out of the blue offering free money?
When that happens, case worker Genice Brown usually will ask if she can email them — a move she hopes lends a bit more credence to her pitch. Once she convinces them the program is real, nine out of 10 people agree to sign up, she said.
Genice Brown, a medical case worker with the Housing Stabilization and Homelessness Prevention Unit, in Los Angeles on Feb. 29, 2024.
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Jules Hotz for CalMatters
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Individuals enrolled in the program receive a base sum of either $4,000 or $6,000 (the amount is randomly assigned so researchers can assess the impacts of different amounts of money). Families start at $6,000 or $8,000, with larger families receiving more.
Brown can use that money for whatever her clients need most. Usually rent comes first, but it also can cover other bills. In addition, she helps connect her clients to doctors, dentists and mental health services. If they’re looking for work, Brown gets them gift cards for interview outfits, helps them with their resumes and role-plays interview questions.
She works with each client for three or four months.
‘I just really needed the help’
For 38-year-old Sandricka Henderson, help came just in time.
Diagnosed with lupus at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Henderson could no longer work her physically-demanding warehouse job. Disability benefits gave her barely more than $1,000 a month — just a quarter of what she made while she was working. With an 8-year-old son to support, Henderson found she was at least $400 behind on her bills every month.
Just before Christmas last year, Henderson received a call from a woman offering free money. Henderson was sure it was a scam, and braced for the woman to ask for her Social Security number.
But the social worker (who turned out to be Genice Brown) didn’t, and Henderson eventually realized the program was real. The first thing Brown gave her was a $100 giftcard to a local grocery store — a blessing, Henderson said, because she had nothing in her refrigerator.
Shortly after, Henderson’s landlord sent her a letter warning she had 10 days to pay her rent or be evicted. About a week later, Brown sent the rent money and helped Henderson avoid catastrophe. She also helped Henderson catch up on her car payment.
Now, Henderson no longer feels like she’s teetering on the edge of homelessness. She has some money in her savings account, and her rent is prepaid for several months.
“I just really needed the help,” Henderson said. Because she’s used to working hard and taking care of herself, she added, she never would have reached out and asked for it.
“It really did change my whole circumstances,” she said. “My son had a Christmas that I didn’t think I was going to be able to give him.”
The L.A. County team has met with government agencies from all over the country who are interested in its AI model, including Santa Clara and San Diego counties, Vanderford said.
San Diego County is working on a plan for homelessness prevention, Tim McClain, spokesman for the county’s Health and Human Services Agency, said in an email to CalMatters. He wouldn’t provide any additional updates.
Santa Clara County met with the California Policy Lab earlier this year, and hopes to schedule another informational meeting soon, said Consuelo Hernandez, director of the county’s Office of Supportive Housing. The county has its own homelessness prevention program, which relies on humans triaging clients. If artificial intelligence can do that work more efficiently, it’s worth exploring, Hernandez said.
But at the end of the day, what they really want is more money to help the people that already fill their queues.
“Without having additional resources,” Hernandez said, “what is the true benefit of knowing there are more people out there who are in need?”
California students are likely to see fewer cell phones and more gender-neutral bathrooms next year as new state education laws go into effect.
New Office of Civil Rights to open: Assembly Bill 715 establishes a state Office of Civil Rights to help school districts identify and prevent discrimination based on antisemitism, gender, religious and LGBTQ status. It will also handle questions and complaints.
Shielding schools from immigration raids: Protecting students from immigration raids was a priority for legislators this year, resulting in several pieces of new legislation.
Read on... for more new laws that will affect California schools.
California students are likely to see fewer cell phones and more gender-neutral bathrooms next year as new state education laws go into effect.
Protecting students from immigration raids was a priority for state legislators this year, resulting in several new laws, including one prohibiting school staff from allowing immigration officers to enter campuses or providing student or family information.
The most controversial of the new laws is one meant to target antisemitism, although amendments made during the legislative session resulted in a bill that defines discrimination more broadly.
New Office of Civil Rights to open
Assembly Bill 715 establishes a state Office of Civil Rights to help school districts identify and prevent discrimination based on antisemitism, gender, religious and LGBTQ status. It will also handle questions and complaints.
The legislation, along with Senate Bill 48, creates four positions to track and report discrimination. These positions will be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate after Jan. 1.
“California is taking action to confront hate in all forms,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement. “At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate.”
The legislation has been controversial, with some organizations saying it infringes on academic freedom and prioritizes the rights of certain students over others. The California Teachers Association and California Faculty Association have said the legislation could result in the censoring of educators.
Parents can’t be jailed for truant kids
Beginning Jan. 1, parents of chronically truant children will no longer be fined or face jail time.
Assembly Bill 461 amends the state’s Penal Code to remove a section that makes it a criminal offense for a parent to have a child who is chronically truant, which is defined as missing school without a valid excuse for 10% or more of the school year.
California law requires students age 6 to 18 to attend school.
The Penal Code called for a fine of up to $2,000 or up to a year in jail for parents whose children habitually missed school.
“Criminalizing parents for their children′s truancy ignores the root causes of absenteeism and only deepens family hardships, especially as many immigrant families now fear sending their children to school,” said Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, D-Sunnyvale, in a statement. “(This bill) ensures support and resources to keep students in school and on track for success.”
Gender-neutral bathroom required
Beginning on July 1, all California school campuses, except those that have only one bathroom for male students and one bathroom for female students, are required to have a gender-neutral bathroom.
Senate Bill 760, which was signed by the governor in 2023, requires that posted signs identify the designated bathroom as being open to all genders and that it be kept unlocked and available to all students.
“SB 760 is a measure that aims to create a safe and inclusive environment not only for non-binary students, but to all students, by requiring each public school to establish at least one all-gender restroom,” said former Sen. Josh Newman, author of the bill.
Cellphone use to be limited
School districts, county offices of education, and charter schools have until July 1 to adopt a policy limiting the use of cellphones during school hours.
Assembly Bill 3216, renamed the Phone-Free School Act, was approved in an effort to curb classroom distractions, bullying, and addiction to the devices. At least five other states, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina and Ohio, have similar laws.
Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent a letter to school district leaders urging them to restrict cellphones. Excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression and other mental health issues in children, he said.
Shielding schools from immigration raids
Protecting students from immigration raids was a priority for legislators this year, resulting in several pieces of new legislation.
Assembly Bill 49, known as the California Safe Haven Schools Act, was passed amid a series of immigration raids that have resulted in the arrest of thousands of people. It went into effect as an urgency measure in September.
The bill prohibits school staff from allowing immigration enforcement officers on school campuses or sharing student or family information with them without a warrant or court order. School districts have until March 1 to update school policies to align with the law.
Senate Bill 98, also effective in September, requires leaders of school districts, charter schools, universities and colleges to notify staff and parents when immigration officers are on a campus. School safety plans should include an official procedure for making these notifications by March 1.
This bill, which is in effect until Jan. 1, 2031, does not prevent governing boards from establishing stronger standards or protections.
Protecting preschools, preparing families
Assembly Bill 495, known as the Family Preparedness Plan Act, expands the pool of relatives that can be authorized to make decisions and care for children if parents are detained by immigration authorities or deported.
Beginning Jan. 1, all adults related to a child by blood or adoption, within five generations, could be authorized to enroll a child in school or make decisions about their medical care while on campus.
The bill also permits courts to appoint a person, nominated by a parent, to have joint custody of a child if they are detained or deported by immigration officials.
It also requires school districts to provide information to parents and guardians regarding the right of children to have a free public education.
The legislation also extends the requirements of AB 49 to child care facilities and preschools, prohibiting staff from collecting information or documents regarding the immigration status of children or their family. Instead, they are required to report requests for this information to the California Department of Education and the state Attorney General’s Office.
Easing the road to college
This year, California high school students will find it easier to be admitted to a California State University campus.
Senate Bill 640 establishes a direct admission program that sends mailers to high school students who are eligible to attend participating campuses, informing them of that status. Qualified students must have completed all the required coursework and maintained the necessary grade point average.
“Tens of thousands of California students are fully qualified to go to CSU, but don’t jump the hurdles of the admissions process,” said Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, D-Napa, the law’s author. “At the same time, nearly half of CSU’s campuses have substantial available enrollment capacity and need more students to sustain their high quality academic programs.”
The legislation also requires the California Community Colleges system to promote the CSU dual admission transfer program, which guarantees CSU admission to eligible community college students.
Student IDs to include suicide hotline number
Student identification cards issued at California public secondary schools and institutions of higher education after July 1 will include the phone number for The Trevor Project, a crisis and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people age 10 to 14, and the third leading cause of death for 14- to 25-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In today’s political climate, LGBTQ+ students face significant levels of bullying, harassment, and discrimination — negatively impacting their mental health and academic success,” according to Assemblymember Mark González, author of the bill. “AB 727 will provide critical resources to support LGBTQ+ youth in crisis and those who have experienced harassment.”
Early education to take seats on board
The next eligible seat that comes open on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing in 2026 must go to an early childhood education teacher, according to Assembly Bill 1123.
The bill calls for one of the six teacher representatives on the commission to hold a child development teacher permit. It also reduces the number of public representatives on the board from three to two to allow the governor to appoint someone who teaches early childhood development at a university or college.
The commission, which governs the licensing and preparation of the state’s teachers, is made up of 15 voting members, including the state superintendent of public instruction, six practicing teachers, a school administrator, a school board member, a school counselor, a faculty member from a teacher preparation program, a human resources administrator, and three public representatives.
The early childhood representatives will be seated after the next eligible seat is vacated or a representative’s term ends.
In the 60 years since California first began issuing child development permits to early childhood educators, there has never been a voting member on the commission, which governs their licensure and preparation, said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, author of the bill.
Jordan Rynning
holds local government accountable, covering city halls, law enforcement and other powerful institutions.
Published December 30, 2025 12:17 PM
A screenshot from body worn video taken during Parias' arrest by federal immigration agents on Oct. 21.
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U.S. District Court, Central District of California
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Topline:
A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against Carlitos Ricardo Parias, known as Richard LA on TikTok, where he posts content on local breaking news. Judge Fernando M. Olguin ruled on Saturday that the government violated Parias’ constitutional rights by not allowing him to speak to his lawyers before trial.
The backstory: Parias was arrested on Oct. 21 and charged with assaulting a federal officer and damaging government property. Federal immigration agents alleged in court documents filed the day of his arrest that Parias accelerated his car aggressively after agents had boxed him in. One of the agents then shot Parias in the arm, also hitting a deputy U.S. Marshal in the hand with a ricochet bullet.
Why the case was dismissed: Olguin explained his ruling in an order to dismiss the case, saying Parias was prevented from speaking to his lawyers while detained at the Adelanto immigration detention facility “for nearly the entire month preceding trial.” Olguin criticized both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for not ensuring Parias could speak with his lawyers and have a fair trial.
What the government says: ICE did not answer LAist’s questions about whether Parias or others have been prevented from speaking with their attorneys while detained. The agency provided a statement from Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who said “Parias has a history of driving without a license, failing to prove financial responsibility, vehicle code violations, and resisting arrest. He entered the country illegally at an unknown date and location.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles also told LAist in a statement that the prosecutors “strongly disagree with the court’s version of the facts” and may appeal Olguin’s decision. Meanwhile, Parias remains in immigration custody.
From Parias’ lawyers: Federal public defenders Cuauhtemoc Ortega and Gabriela Rivera told LAist in a statement they're confident a jury would acquit Parias and “are grateful that Mr. Parias’ constitutional rights were vindicated.”
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A line of federal immigration agents and protesters stand-off near the Glass House Farms facility outside Camarillo on July 10, 2025. Protesters gathered after federal agents conducted an immigration raid earlier in the day.
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Larry Valenzuela
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CalMatters/CatchLight Local
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Topline:
President Donald Trump focused on California first as his administration rolled out its crackdown on unauthorized immigration, sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and carrying out high profile raids throughout the state.
Why it matters: Raids on California streets and lawsuits that followed helped rewrite the ground rules for how agents can operate. What began as before-dawn operations in Golden State farm towns quickly expanded into a broader nationwide strategy: surprise workplace and neighborhood sweeps and roving patrols miles from the border.
What's next: California expects further interior enforcement, additional legal battles over sanctuary laws, funding, and renewed attempts to expand detention capacity.
Read on... for more on what happened in 2025 and what to expect in the coming year.
Raids on California streets and lawsuits that followed helped rewrite the ground rules for how agents can operate. What began as before-dawn operations in Golden State farm towns quickly expanded into a broader nationwide strategy: surprise workplace and neighborhood sweeps and roving patrols miles from the border.
CalMatters reporters across California documented how tactics first seen in Kern County, such as warrantless traffic stops and a heavy reliance on appearance-based profiling, spread statewide and then across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld these methods.
Early in the second Trump administration, the federal government sent Marines to the border, citing a crisis. Those troops have since quietly gone home.
Hundreds of National Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles following civil unrest about immigration arrests. President Donald Trump threatened to send forces to the Bay Area, then backed off. State officials objected, while federal leaders characterized the moves as necessary. The standoff deepened long-running tensions between California and the White House over the state’s sanctuary policy and federal authority.
All this fell most heavily on families with deep roots in California. CalMatters found deportations increasingly reached people who have decades-long residence, U.S.-citizen children, stable employment, and even those following legal pathways. ICE detained people at green-card interviews and routine check-ins. The changes destabilized school systems, the agricultural economy, and health care.
A federal lawsuit over a deaf asylum seeker’s prolonged detention exposed gaps in medical care and disability accommodations in immigration facilities. Under Trump, asylum seekers with pending claims lost protection from arrest. A new system is emerging where people trying to follow the rules are easier targets than those evading them. Detention centers drew scrutiny as local authorities shied away from conducting health and safety inspections, while advocates reported worsening conditions inside.
A quieter but equally consequential trend has emerged: The immigrant population shrank. Love them or hate them, Trump’s immigration policies were achieving the administration’s goals. Pew Research found the national immigration population shrank by about 1.4 million people in the first half of 2025, the first decline in half a century. Economists warned about slower growth. State leaders weighed long-term impacts on the workforce, schools, and social service systems.
Enforcement grew more data-driven. Drone surveillance expanded in urban areas, and advocates warned about new uses of artificial intelligence to identify deportation targets and analyze asylum and visa applicants’ digital histories.
2026 outlook
California expects further interior enforcement, additional legal battles over sanctuary laws, funding, and renewed attempts to expand detention capacity. School districts and employers are preparing for more mass removals, while lawmakers are considering new privacy protections.
Sunset Boulevard House, also known as The Bridges House by architect Robert Bridges, was destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
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Brian van der Brug
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
The Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires renewed attention to issues such as utility oversight, insurance coverage, and the broader challenges of wildfire planning in a changing climate. But California found pushing its climate agenda forward to be an uphill battle this year: ambitious climate goals faced a hostile federal government economic pressures.
Agenda setbacks: Anticipating opposition from President Donald Trump, state leaders chose to abandon important clean-air rules before he even took office, including plans to phase out diesel trucks and transition to cleaner trains. Nearing mid-year, Trump and his allies in Congress blocked the state’s clean-car mandate, a blow to emissions reduction plans. By the end of the legislative session, these issues converged, as legislators passed a six-bill deal that included a plan to boost oil drilling, relief for ratepayers who fund wildfire mitigation, and an extension of the now rebranded “cap-and-invest” program.
Read on... for more on what 2025 delivered on the climate front.
Days after 2025 began, two fires scorched through Los Angeles neighborhoods, the most destructive in California’s history. The Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires also renewed attention to issues such as utility oversight, insurance coverage, and the broader challenges of wildfire planning in a changing climate. And their harms rippled outward, leaving thousands of low-income workers and immigrants without jobs.
Nevertheless, as part of budget negotiations, Gov. Gavin Newsom sought to reauthorize California’s landmark cap-and-trade program, launching a debate that would resolve in the final hours of the legislative session.
Blaming climate and environmental regulation, Phillips 66 and Valero followed through on plans to shutter oil refineries, raising concerns about gas prices and the future of the state’s oil industry. In Wilmington, Phillips 66 is now closed. A high-profile explosion at Chevron’s El Segundo refinery nearby underscored persistent safety and environmental risks tied to remaining facilities.
By the end of the legislative session, these issues converged, as legislators passed a six-bill deal that included a plan to boost oil drilling, relief for ratepayers who fund wildfire mitigation, and an extension of the now rebranded “cap-and-invest” program.
As lawmakers passed sweeping reforms to California’s landmark environmental review law, critics warned exemptions may make it easier for potentially high-polluting advanced manufacturing facilities to take root in already vulnerable areas.
Affordability, the cost of climate adaptation, and pollution harms, in the skies and in the waste stream, continue to be key issues for California. As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s balancing act continues, the state will navigate tensions with environmental justice advocates unhappy with compromises. Emerging risks include the cost – in energy and water – of data centers, and the environmental consequences of the battery economy.
