The Brief

Ronald Latney used to believe his vote didn’t matter. But after returning to jail this year, he realized the difference it can make — especially locally.

“I try to tell everybody … like, man, we need to vote, because our lives depend on this,” he said, mentioning district attorney races and bail policies. “That’s very impactful on me and what I’m going through now.”

It also helps him feel involved in the world, he said: “Sometimes we feel like we’re forgotten about, so to speak, except for our family. But this does definitely make me feel like I’m a part of something.”

Latney is able to vote with relative ease at a jail in San Bruno, where he’s serving time. But his experience isn’t all that common.

While California prides itself on making voting easier, some groups of voters still face barriers. That includes many people in county jails, though the state has allowed most to vote since 2016.

The latest data from the California Department of Corrections shows that about 92,000 people are in state prisons, and many are ineligible to vote. But in 2023, another 78,000 were in county jails, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based nonpartisan research group, and about 60% of them have not been convicted of a crime, so are eligible to vote.

A disproportionate number of people in jails are Black or Latino, and sometimes wait years until they go to trial.

Most California jails don’t offer in-person voting, and voting by mail can be challenging. People might be registered at one address, but even if their mail is being forwarded to their jail, they get released or transferred elsewhere.

Advocates who have tried to help those jailed to vote list a host of hurdles that vary by county. Due to lengthy mail screening, some don’t get voter guides in time. Others don’t get voter guides at all, because people in jail can only receive mail under a certain page limit, or without staples.

Voter information is key to the process, advocates say — letting people know if they’re eligible, or how to register or vote. But advocates face their own barriers, such as limits on how often they can visit jails or how long they can stay.

The state does not track the number of incarcerated people who vote, but some counties have encouraged more participation: Since 2010, nearly 9,200 jail inmates have voted by mail or at in-jail booths in Los Angeles County.

Advocates want to build on that program through a bill introduced by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan that would start a pilot program for in-jail voting in three counties. The bill passed the Legislature in the session’s final days in late August, and awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision by Sept. 30.

While nearly all Republicans voted against it, the bill has no official opposition on file.

Topo Padilla, a board member of Crime Victims United, said that he did not understand the need for the Legislature to intervene. “I do not believe there’s a sheriff in the state of California that is saying lawful mail cannot be delivered to an inmate,” he said.

The bill, he said, shows him again that Democrats in California “focus more about taking care of people that have been convicted of crimes than they do about victims of crime.”

But for Latney, he believes his vote directly affects his ability to get out of jail — and stay out.

He arrived at the law library at the jail, in a visit last week arranged by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, with a red folder that held a write-up of his own experience with state laws, and a printed-out opinion piece from former prisoner Richard Richardson, whose voting experience resonated with Latney.

“I can honestly say that I made my mistake ... I’m paying my debt to society, and I’m just ready for this to be over with,” he said. “I know that voting can make things like this possible and can help better my circumstances, and later on in life.”

The jail upon a hill

Melinda Benson, director of Prisoner Legal Services for the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, said every eligible person incarcerated in California should have a “meaningful” opportunity to vote.

“I say meaningful, because it’s not meaningful in a lot of counties. It might be just that they make an announcement that you can reach out to the Department of Elections,” she said. “The rule is that the Department of Elections has to make that opportunity available, but that’s it. That’s really the only guidance.”

Benson’s staff of three provides legal services, and also goes cell-by-cell to talk through each person’s eligibility and steps to register. A big push at the San Francisco County Jail involves convincing those incarcerated that they really can vote.

“I’m a lawyer, and I’m telling them, ‘No, you’re absolutely legally eligible to vote.’ They don’t believe me,” Benson said. “And then when they have the opportunity to do it, it’s pretty moving.”

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The Sheriff’s Office began its voting outreach program in 2003, based on interest in San Francisco’s mayoral race, and worked with the elections office to ensure anyone eligible could fill out absentee ballot forms.

Since then, the state has gradually expanded eligibility, such as to those on parole. And a 2021 state law, which ensures that a mail ballot is sent to everyone registered, made the process much easier for Benson’s department.

Data from four elections in San Francisco from February 2022 to March 2024 show that a third to half of jailed people who requested voter information went on to cast ballots.

Thomas Neal, 45, who is also incarcerated at the San Bruno jail, said voting has always been important to him. He sees it as his civic duty. His experience in San Francisco County jail has been better than in other counties, where he said he had to petition for voting resources to be made available.

“I shouldn’t have to argue about wanting to vote. It’s my right to vote,” he said.

Outside groups find workarounds

A big advantage for the San Francisco program is that the team is in-house. Elsewhere, outside advocacy groups have to go through a myriad of workarounds.

Spread the Vote tries to set up relationships with someone inside the jail — a priest, rabbi or a counselor — who can be a point of contact to answer voting questions. The group aims to boost voter participation by eliminating barriers, such as not having an ID card.

Kat Calvin, executive director of Spread the Vote, said that it takes more than just providing pamphlets to empower those incarcerated to vote.

“We’ve tried to work with California jails, and we’re always told, ‘Oh, we’ve got it. We’re so great.’ But then I’ve gotten letters from people who are incarcerated in California jails saying, ‘I’m trying to vote, but they won’t give me a pen. They’ll only give me a pencil,’” she said. “It’s those little things that make it impossible.”

Spread the Vote works in 20 states, and creates voting guides geared to those in jail, sent early enough to avoid mail processing delays. Depending on local rules, they might also set up ballot collection boxes in jail.

The VOICE program in the Alameda County public defender’s office has registered nearly 1,800 people since 2016, mostly at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. It shows prospective voters how to look at downloaded guides for statewide initiatives on their tablets to get around the limits on stapled guides.

Not all advocacy groups find success.

A flier made by the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office Prisoner Legal Services to inform people who are incarcerated about their voting rights. San Bruno on Sept. 11, 2024.

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In San Diego, for example, the sheriff’s department denied access to Pillars of the Community, so the advocacy group partnered with the League of Women Voters, which already worked with the jail.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said it works closely with the Registrar of Voters and the League of Women Voters to ensure access to voter registration and participation. In the case of the Pillars group, a sheriff’s spokesperson said some volunteers did not get security clearance, or didn’t submit requests early enough.

Some volunteers have criminal records, which could prevent them from getting clearance, said Brittany Stonesifer, a voting rights attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.

Are there solutions in sight?

For Bryan, a Democratic lawmaker from Culver City, the only way to address inconsistent mail voting in county jails — sometimes due to a lack of technical assistance or staff — is to allow voting inside.

That’s why he introduced Assembly Bill 544, which requires the Secretary of State to provide grants to the elections offices in San Benito, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties to set up in-person voting in jails — when the Legislature allocates funding, which might be an uphill battle given the state’s budget crunch.

“It increases public safety, it increases civic awareness, and it produces the best kind of electoral outcomes — where all eligible voters are able to be heard in our democracy,” Bryan said.

Assemblymember Isaac G. Bryan on the assembly floor at the state Capitol on March 27, 2023.

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If Newsom signs the bill, the pilot programs would be for elections in 2026 through 2028.

The proposal is based on the success of the Los Angeles County “We All Count” campaign, which set up in-person voting for the March 2020 presidential primary at the Century Regional Detention Facility. More than 90 people cast ballots, but the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the effort. In 2022, the county expanded to a second jail and 40 people cast ballots between the two facilities.

Benson, of San Francisco Prisoner Legal Services, said any state mandate would be helpful, in case future sheriffs aren’t as supportive of voting access. “If there is a law in place, that will be followed, and if there are resources behind it — you know, now we’re talking,” she said. “So you’ve got to not just say that. It has to have some teeth.”

There are other ways the state could help short of in-jail voting.

Ucedrah Osby, president of the Bakersfield chapter of All of Us or None, an advocacy group for the incarcerated, said the state could spend more on voter education. And jails could allow outside groups more access, because voting information can have more impact coming from those with connections to the incarcerated.

Thanh Tran, an advocate who served two-and-a-half years of his 10-year sentence in jail, agreed. He said he was focused mostly on surviving each day, and it didn’t even cross his mind that he was still eligible to vote when he was shackled and belly-chained just to walk down the hallway.

Tran, whose sentence was commuted by Newsom in 2022, said he spent many days in solitary confinement, where he read the news and books on politics. After his release, he worked as a fellow at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, where he helped advocate for Bryan’s bill.

“If I knew that I could participate in voting, I would have done it. But the thing is that I wasn’t offered it. I didn’t know it was a thing,” he said. “There were many, many barriers stopping me from even conceiving the thought of voting during my incarceration.”

The immigration detention center closest to Los Angeles has placed dozens of people in solitary confinement each month since June, according to the most recent data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In May 2025, the Adelanto ICE Processing Center had 14 people in isolation. When the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort revved up in June 2025, the number of detainees in solitary confinement there more than tripled. By July, it was 73; by August, 105.

The most recent data available shows that number went down slightly in January, to 74 people.

Ranked by percentage of the detainee population in “segregation,” as it is called at immigrant detention centers, Adelanto is among the U.S.’s top 10 facilities as of January, according to an LAist analysis of the most recent ICE data.

The data shows that of 229 ICE facilities that reported holding people since October 2024, between 50 and 60 usually reported putting at least one person in segregation in a given month. Out of the facilities that did place people in solitary confinement, Adelanto tended to do so less often than others until June 2025. (The facility held just a few people from October 2024 into January 2025.) When ICE’s presence increased in L.A. in June, the number of people sent to isolation in the facility also shot up — three to five times as many people have been isolated in Adelanto compared to the average facility that used any solitary confinement.

Since June, only two facilities have sent people to solitary confinement more times than Adelanto: one southwest of San Antonio, the other in central Pennsylvania.

Both of those facilities held twice the number of detainees as Adelanto on average from October 2024 through September 2025; but the number of people held in Adelanto since then has tripled, growing larger than either of the other facilities to hold an average of 1,800 people a day since October.

More on solitary confinement  

According to ICE, detainees may be placed in segregation for “disciplinary reasons,” or because of:

• “Serious mental or medical illness.”
• Conducting a hunger strike.
• Suicide watch.

The agency also says it might place detainees “who may be susceptible to harm [if left among the] general population due in part to how others interpret or assume their sexual orientation, or sexual presentation or expression.”

Not only is ICE holding more people in solitary confinement, but the agency's data also shows that detainees across the country are being isolated for longer periods of time. Detainees ICE considers part of the "vulnerable & special population" spent an average of about two weeks in solitary confinement each time they were isolated in 2022, when ICE first made the data available. By the end of 2025, the average stay in isolation had risen to more than seven weeks straight.

The GEO Group Inc., a private company that operates the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, has not responded to requests for comment.

How isolation can affect immigrant detainees  

UN human rights experts consider solitary confinement placements that last 15 days or more to be torture, though the U.S. Supreme Court has held that isolation doesn’t violate the Constitution.

The UN also maintains that solitary confinement should be prohibited for people “with mental or physical disabilities when their conditions would be exacerbated by such measures.”

In January, a coalition of immigrant rights groups filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of current detainees, calling for conditions at Adelanto to be improved. In addition to an unsanitary environment and a lack of healthy food and clean drinking water, detainees say solitary confinement is frequently used to punish those who speak out about conditions at the facility.

People held in immigrant detention centers are technically in “civil detention,” meaning that they are being detained to ensure their presence at hearings and compliance with immigration orders — not to serve criminal sentences.

According to the immigrant rights groups’ complaint, one detainee was placed in solitary confinement after complaining about the showers being broken. Another detainee said that, after asking a guard to “use more respectful language toward him, he was ridiculed, written up and given the middle finger by a guard who shouted, ‘Who the f--- do you think you are?’” Then, the detainee was placed in solitary confinement for 25 days.

Alvaro Huerta, the director of litigation and advocacy at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center who is representing detainees at Adelanto, told LAist that when people are placed in isolation at the facility, they’re typically in the same cell for 23 hours per day, unable to receive visits from their families.

For clients who are experiencing mental health challenges — especially those with suicidal thoughts — being placed in solitary confinement “can really exacerbate their condition,” he added.

In multiple statements to the media, ICE has said that the agency “is committed to ensuring that all those in custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments.” The agency has also said that detainees receive “comprehensive medical care” and that all detainees “receive medical, dental, and mental health intake screenings within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility.”

Huerta called that “laughable.”

“We have countless examples of people who have said that this is not true, that they're not getting the medication that they're requesting, that they're not being seen for chronic conditions and emergency conditions,” he added. “And we know it's not true because 14 people have died in ICE custody this year alone.”

Lori Rovner of Manhattan Beach is a big sports fan, so there was no question that when tickets for the Olympic Games went on sale, she'd be signing up.

She scored a slot in the first ticket drop, which launched Thursday, and logged on right at 10 a.m., hoping to score tickets to the Opening Ceremonies and some finals too. After battling her computer to get through "access denied" screens and a lost shopping cart due to a 30-minute time limit, she bought 16 tickets.

It was only when she was about to purchase that she noticed the service fees, which were around 24% of each ticket. One $2,100 ticket had a $505 service fee, bringing the total cost to $2,604.63.

"It's insane," she said of the fee. "I don't understand what the service is."

As the locals-only sale kicks off and Southern Californians have their first chance to buy tickets to the Olympic Games, some fans are wide-eyed at the high fees on all tickets and the prices in general, which start at $28 but go up to more than $5,500 a pop. Opening Ceremony tickets start at $328.68

The service fees aren't a surprise add-on. The price fans see when browsing the site is the total cost, including the fee. Still, some who bought in the first phase of sales were surprised when they saw the fees add up.

One user on Reddit of shared their cart of 10 tickets, which added up to $11,264. That included $1,038 in fees alone. Commenters responded in shock and awe.

Service fees are standard in ticket sales, but the percentage they charge can vary widely. High fees have been a source of ire for music and sports fans for years. A 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the average fees on a primary ticket market were 27%.

LA28 did not respond to LAist's requests for details on the service fee, like what it pays for or why it's a percentage rather than a flat rate.

Not everyone seemed bothered by the prices. Some people LAist spoke with opted for only $28 or similarly priced tickets, even if it meant missing some of the biggest Olympic events. One user on Reddit said they purchased 18 tickets for around $550.

"I went with all $28 tickets," they wrote in the online forum about the Olympics. "I got women’s soccer, gymnastics, beach and regular volleyball, track and field, baseball and a few others."

For some, the ticket process, the prices and the dense web of events to choose from made it too hard to pull the trigger.

Jeff Bartow of Sierra Madre made a spreadsheet with some competitions he was interested in seeing before he logged on to buy tickets Friday.

"So many times, so many schedules, so many events," Bartow said. "I think I initially thought I was going to go to a bunch, but thinking about how crazy it's going to be … I might be a little more limited."

This is just the first ticket drop. There will be more opportunities to buy tickets in the months to come — and on a resale market that launches in 2027.

Some ticket-buyers told LAist they already were contemplating which tickets they'd keep and which ones they'd re-sell, just minutes after buying them.

In the more than two months since the Department of Justice released its latest batch of files on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors have not brought any new charges based on the documents, despite federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continuing to demand accountability.

The more than 3 million pages of documents include accusations by alleged victims of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's abuse and thousands of emails and photos showing Epstein associated with prominent figures. The files indicate that many of these people maintained contact with the disgraced financier long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to sex crimes that involved minors. Appearing in the files is not necessarily an indication of criminal wrongdoing.

The release of the Epstein files came after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forced the Justice Department to make public all documents it held related to Epstein.

Epstein died in prison about a month after a 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted on sex-trafficking charges in 2021 and is serving a 20-year sentence. Since the release of the files in 2025 and 2026, there have been no related arrests in the U.S. However, the disclosures have led to some resignations and other reputational repercussions for some high-ranking Americans.

The lack of arrests in the U.S. contrasts to the fallout in the U.K., where investigators have pursued charges related to corruption, not sexual abuse, in their dealings with Epstein. Two former government officials — former Prince Andrew and ex-ambassador Peter Mandelson — were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now known, has denied wrongdoing and has not been formally charged. Mandelson has also not been charged, and lawyers for Mandelson have said that the arrest was prompted by a "baseless suggestion."

In the U.S., top Justice Department officials have said that they found no evidence compelling enough to pursue further charges related to Epstein, and that the public can make their own assessments based on the disclosed documents.

In a statement to NPR, Justice Department spokesperson Katie Kenlein said that "there have not been additional prosecutions beyond Epstein and Maxwell because there has not been credible evidence that their activities extended to Epstein's network. However, if prosecutable evidence comes forward, the Department of Justice will of course act on it as we do every day in sexual trafficking and assault cases across the count[r]y."

On Thursday, President Trump announced that Attorney General Pam Bondi is out of the top job at the Justice Department, following bipartisan criticism over her handling of the Epstein files.

NPR asked four former prosecutors and one former law enforcement officer why there may not have been enough evidence to levy additional charges. Here's what they said.

Prosecutors must prove guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt"

Prosecutors must prove to a jury that a person committed a crime "beyond a reasonable doubt," according to Barbara McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.

"One of the biggest misconceptions people have is how difficult it is to charge and convict somebody for a criminal case," said McQuade, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

A prosecutor's ethical responsibility is to charge cases only if they believe there is enough evidence for a conviction, McQuade said. Documents, including emails, jokes, and even plane itineraries, can be a place to start, but, alone, they are not enough to prove guilt, McQuade said.

"What you would need [is] rock solid evidence," McQuade said. "You can't charge someone for a crime without sufficient evidence, and I have yet to see evidence of a crime involving an Epstein associate that has gone uncharged."

Based on his understanding of the case, Paul Butler, a professor at Georgetown Law, said he agreed that prosecutors who investigated Epstein's alleged associates "may have believed that they couldn't persuade a jury beyond a reasonable doubt." He said problems with witness credibility or certain forensic evidence can prevent a case from moving forward.

The U.K. cases are focused on corruption 

In the U.K., the two people arrested are being investigated on suspicion of "misconduct in public office." McQuade said the U.S. does not have a single equivalent federal law. Instead, the U.S. prosecutes public corruption through statutes that focus specifically on crimes such as bribery and extortion.

After the release of the latest files, British police began investigating Andrew's correspondence with Epstein when Andrew was a U.K. trade envoy. At that time, Andrew allegedly shared government itineraries, investment plans and notes from official foreign trips with Epstein. The information may have been covered by the United Kingdom's Official Secrets Act.

Similarly, Mandelson has been accused of passing confidential government information to the late sex offender when Mandelson was a U.K. Cabinet minister.

Meeting the burden of proof is especially challenging for sex crime cases

Victim statements are essential for establishing basic elements, such as the timeframe of events, required to build sexual assault cases, said Diane Goldstein, a retired police lieutenant from California and the executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. But a victim may be reluctant to come forward because of a fear of retaliation, not believing the police can help, believing it is a personal matter, or not wanting to get the perpetrator in trouble.

McQuade noted that in some sex trafficking cases, especially those in which a perpetrator is in a position of power, victims may experience intimidation or threats that prevent them from speaking out.

Victims also may be hesitant to move forward with allegations because they fear having to testify at trials where defense attorneys may attempt to poke holes in their allegations, McQuade said.

Goldstein said that for sex crime cases to advance, investigators need to follow certain policies and procedures. "If you don't have a legitimate police investigation to start, you're not going to get any type of criminal filing," Goldstein said.

Other potential charges are also a difficult path

Prosecutors may have considered pursuing charges of criminal conspiracy related to sex trafficking against people associated with Epstein, said Jessica Roth, a professor at Cardozo School of Law. FBI documents in the files relating to its investigation into Epstein's crimes identify certain people as "co-conspirators."

But Ankush Khardori, a senior writer and columnist at Politico magazine who worked as a federal prosecutor on financial fraud cases, told NPR those identifiers are not "formal accusation[s]" and are simply part of "interim documents."

"The FBI does not determine who is a co-conspirator," Khardori said. "That is a legal judgment that prosecutors make."

But for those conspiracy cases, "criminal intent," in particular, is difficult to establish, said Roth, who worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York for seven years. Criminal conspiracy charges "would require knowledge and intent on the part of each individual who was charged," Roth said. If a person who communicated with Epstein had some suspicion that he was engaged in illegal activity, that alone would not be sufficient evidence to press charges, she said.

Investigators may have considered charges related to criminal tax violations, McQuade said. But the statute of limitations has likely ended on those cases, she said, meaning that prosecutors can no longer bring charges.

The current evidence lacks context

Legal experts say the haphazard way the documents were released and redacted makes it difficult for the public to understand why no additional charges have been filed.

Roth, the Cardozo law professor, said the information is in "isolation," without the appropriate context. "We'll see an individual photograph that looks perhaps incriminating. We'll see an email that looks incriminating, but we don't necessarily have everything that was said before and after that email and that exchange," Roth said.

One document that could explain why no charges were pursued, according to Butler, is a heavily redacted DOJ memo naming "potential co-conspirators" of Epstein. "The parts that should indicate why the department declined prosecution on any alleged co-conspirators other than Ghislaine Maxwell [are] redacted," said Butler, the Georgetown law professor and a former federal prosecutor.

Butler said those redactions are "unusual" because they do not appear to follow the permissible reasons for redactions in the Epstein documents. Those reasons include confidentiality for Epstein's alleged victims, or anything that would compromise an ongoing investigation, Butler said.

"When the Justice Department grudgingly releases information when pressed by politics or forced by Congress, it also creates the impression that they have something to hide," Butler said. "That there is some cover-up going on."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Nearly 30% more students in Los Angeles County experienced homelessness from 2022-23 to 2023-24, making it the county’s highest rate in the past five years and far outpacing the rate of homelessness across the state in the same timeframe, as the resources to identify and support this student population have decreased.

The UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools published two reports on Wednesday on the state of student homelessness in the county: “Rising Numbers, Fading Resources: Students Experiencing Homelessness in Los Angeles County” and “Hidden in Plain Sight: Fear, Underidentification, and Funding Gaps for Housing-Insecure Students in Los Angeles County.”

Researchers found that Norwalk-La Mirada Elementary Unified School District had the highest rate of student homelessness in the county — 1 in 3 students, meaning that over 4,700 students were identified as experiencing homelessness during the 2023-24 school year out of a total cumulative enrollment of about 15,600.

The city of Norwalk, where the district is located in the eastern region of the county, was sued by the state in 2024 for banning emergency shelters and other support services for people experiencing homelessness. Last year, the state reached a settlement with the city, which was forced to overturn the ban and put $250,000 toward building affordable housing.

Student homelessness is defined differently under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a federal law that requires every public school to count the number of students who are living on the street, in shelters, in motels, in cars, doubled up with other families, or moving between friends’ and relatives’ homes.

As a result of this expanded definition, McKinney-Vento includes doubled-up students in the count of homelessness. Doubled-up is a term used to describe children and youth ages 21 and under living in shared housing, such as with another family or friends, due to various crises.

There were a few other patterns seen in the L.A. County data analyzed by the UCLA researchers:

• Latino students were disproportionately more likely to experience homelessness: they represent 65% of the county’s student population, but 75.5% of student homelessness
• A third of homeless students were in high school
• Many districts with the highest rates of homelessness had higher school instability but lower dropout rates

While McKinney-Vento has an expanded definition that includes more types of homelessness than several other definitions, identifying students remains difficult.

The second report from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools focuses on the lack of dedicated funding for school staff to identify and support homeless students. Students and families facing homelessness do not always self-identify, whether due to fear, shame or being unaware that their housing situation is considered homelessness under McKinney-Vento.

“A lot of these young people are dealing with a lot of trauma, so they don’t want to be identified. They don’t want to be pointed out; sometimes it’s scary for them, because they think we’re going to report them to the Department of Children and Family Services,” said L.A. County Office of Education staff interviewed for this report.

School staff, known as homeless liaisons, who work with homeless students received a historic influx of federal funds during the Covid-19 pandemic — $98.76 million for California, out of $800 million nationwide, from the American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth.

That funding has since ended, and there is no other dedicated, ongoing state funding set aside solely for the rising number of homeless students. This has led districts in California to “heavily depend on highly competitive and unstable federal streams,” the UCLA researchers wrote. Those federal streams have become increasingly precarious as the federal administration last year sought policy changes that would shift how they are structured.