A state senator introduced legislation this week that would create a guaranteed income for homeless high school seniors.
Senate Bill 333, authored by Sen. Dave Cortese, would establish the Success, Opportunity, & Academic Resilience (SOAR), a guaranteed income pilot program that would offer a fund to all 12th grade homeless students who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.
“We must stop graduating 15,000 high school students into homelessness each year,” said Cortese.
SB 333 is a reintroduction of SB 1341 which was introduced in 2022. SB 1341 would have provided direct cash payments of $1,000 monthly to approximately 15,000 students.
Direct cash payments from SB 333 would be awarded from April to August 2024.
56 comments
And where is this money supposed to coming from? O yeah, those of that worked our way through our trials at a younger age without the help of the democRAT party.
How bout give them a job so they can earn the money? Pay them to pick up trash, paint a school bench, work at the food bank … SOMETHING other than just ‘here is free money for doing NOTHING’.
Absolutely ridiculous, solve the problem and stop just throwing money at it. However, that’s the moronic California approach to most everything. Stop electing morons would be a great first step!
TOTAL GARBAGE.
Universal Basic Income……so long as you are politically aligned with the latest PSY OP.
Free Allowance!!!!!!!!!
Margaret Thatcher once said that “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
hmmm. so if I toss my senior out of the house they get 1K, then I rent their room back to them for $350 a month. Win Win.
Exactly what is considered a homeless High School senior. How can a kid be homeless and go to school? What do they eat and where do they sleep. If there is a kid living in a tent and going to school everyday that would be admirable. I just don’t see it.
Well according to this senator .. 15,000 a year are doing this. Maybe you should prove his statistic as part of his bill proposal and if it is found he manipulated the data, he should be fined.
Maybe he should prove it. I just want to know under what circumstances are these kids homeless.
Parent, looks like you meant “Maybe he” and Ricardoh took your mistake literally. It happens.
“Maybe you should prove his statistic as part of his bill proposal and if it is found he manipulated the data, he should be fined.”
Richardoh
My question was not meant for you to answer. As 1791 posted, I mistyped it. I meant for our illustrious senator to prove it, not you. My apologies.
I don’t think paying for them nothing will foster the drive to make their life better.
If they are homeless then house them!
The single homeless that are not drug addicts or have mental issues, just need a safe address to restart their lives. There are jobs available, but you need a stable home to get started in them. If you are young and only caring for yourself, then you just need a boost, not a hand out.
A safe dormitory style housing complex with the communal jobs as a paid part of it would do that. And it would probably be cheaper.
I understand people sometimes need help. I don’t think throwing money at a problem so es anything.
Homeless doesn’t necessarily mean they are living beneath the freeway. They may be surfing on the couch of friends or family and considered homeless.
Perhaps the money should come from State Senator Dave Cortese’s pockets. Forego any money you earn and put it toward your little pandering scheme. And please keep your grubby, thieving little mitts out of my pockets.
More details are needed. I can’t say I’m for it or against it. There are homeless senior high school students that are going to school. Sometimes people just need a strap to pull themselves up by the bootstraps.
When I worked at Macy’s in Palo Alto, selling handback, I had a customer buying lot’s of handbags, so I commented about her stocking up on handbags, she said she had 4 daughters. I mentioned I had 1 and having 4 would definitely be a challenge. She the said one of is not mine. Then she told the story, about one of her daughters friend was homeless and estranged from her family (I think her parents were drug addicts). My customer felt bad, she had met the girl and felt she had gotten a raw deal. She had an extra room in her house, she told the girl, you can move into our extra bedroom, you will be treated as family, but you have to go to school and keep the room up. End of story when I was talking to my customer years later, she said same girl was about to graduate from law school, and she was so pround of her. I have never forgotten that story, even though it was probably 10 years ago it was told to me.
Why am I getting thumbs down about a story about a woman taking in a homeless teenager, that had a positive outcome? Are some of you saying she shouldn’t have helped? I didn’t even say if l was for or against the program, just said sometimes people need a helping hand. The story l described didn’t cast the taxpayers any money, probably saved money for the taxpayers, since she became a productive member of society.
I think it is a good story and glad it turned out well. She took a chance and it paid off.
She said there were something about that girl that she felt was positive, she took a chance, but followed her instinct. Yes it turned out well.
Hanne, you get thumbed down because you don’t have any real conviction. You sway to whatever the government says.
Read my post, I wrote I wasn’t sure I was either for or against it, I needed more details. In another post I again said the help didn’t necessarily come from the government. When you say I sway to whatever the government says, you are of course just speculating. I’m against several government issue and policies, from both the right and the left. although more so from the right, but not all. I could say the same about some posters here, they have no convictions, they automatically are against everything the government says.
Anon, Come on man. Stop picking on Hanne. Her story was good. Pick on the bad ones not the good ones. You don’t thumbs down because you don’t like the persons politics.
Thank you Ricardo, I appreciate your comment. Unfortunately that is the way it is. One of my very best male platonic friends for almost 35 years (lived right here in Concord, off Willow Pass) was as conservative as they come. We didn’t agree on politics, obviously, we shared a love of music, history and sixties rock and roll, we argued about politics, but no matter how heated our disagreements, it never interfered with our friendship.
P.S. He had lived in Denmark and Norway, and although conservative he loved those countries, and thus were able to have friends of many different political persuasions.
I was in a similar situation as a senior in high school. My friends family let me crash in the spare room and a few months after graduation I shipped off to basic training.
It should definitely start pn April 1st. 😛
The problem is it is the government. Look at all the government programs, they start by doing good in a small area and then if a little is good then a lot is so much better. Soon all high school seniors will be getting cash to “help them get started in life”.
My post at 6:23 p.m. was directed at Bob, l hit the wrong reply.
Would the homeless ‘Senior’ be a product of someone who is no longer a part of the ‘Foster System’?
It is amazing that quite a few of these kids are booted out on their own to fend for themselves with nowhere to go at the age of 18. There was no real game plan for them for the next step of their lives.
Just wondering if this is part of the situation.
You’re right Roz and just maybe some of these kids are on the streets and in shelters with their families. I don’t think the bill specifically said anything about seniors on their own…unless I misread it. Not all homeless are druggies and mentally unfit. So many of the people who comment on Claycord are very negative. I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting lots of negative comments. It’s got to be exhausting to criticize everything all the time.
I think it would depend on each person situation. Are homeless because they ran away from home. Did the run away because they came from an abusive home, or perhaps their parents were drug addicts or alcoholics? Or did they run away because they couldn’t put up with normal house rules, the first is an excuse the second not. Read my heart warming story about the women who took in a homeless teenager.
If you are able to graduate and you are able-bodied—you are able to get a job! We are creating welfare recipients right out of high school, dependents on the government for everything…heaven help us, as we are going to be a state of lazy bums with their hands out and no work ethic…
@Roz – 15,000 seems low to me honestly. I was very engaged in a local foster-transition program over a span of 6 years. I got to see first-hand how the foster system works or doesn’t. The greatest risk for these kids are to those about to graduate or age out of foster care. Sadly a lot of foster parents are in it for the money. When the checks stop coming so does the care and these kids are left to fend for themselves with little or no cushion to transition. And trust me – being family had very little weight. I could share stories that would break your heart – and they are more common then you think. Could you have supported yourself on your first day after graduating coming from a stable home? Now try and do that without that benefit.
People run their fingers on these blogs with no insight or experience on the hardships the teens face. If they used those fingers to educate themselves they’d find a large percent (~40%) of homeless, incarcerated, and sex workers are products of the foster system and started there hardships by the time they were in there early 20s.
Having been this close to the problem I see value in this as long as the administration is solid. This could potentially provide a very high ROI based on my experience.
REALITY SAYS…
Yes! Thank You for Sharing. It answered my thoughts on this.
I knew someone at one point, who had brought this subject to my attention, and was trying to help kids graduating and coming out of the foster system.
@Reality says A very informative post. Ties in with my story about the woman who took in a homeless teen ager who ended u graduating from law school. Very heartwarming story, yet l get all these thumbs down, you got one so far. Seems some people hear needs to grow a heart
But is 1k a month enough. And if the payment stops after a year, will it have had any utility? And will the payment be contigent on any behavioral criteria?
If so, why not just create a job corps to matriculate these young people to?
@yoyohop – the narrative of “get a job” being posted by here by various posters is an uneducated response as I said in my original response. People are forgetting these youths most likely haven’t had the same guidance your or my kids have growing up. The don’t have the best examples of what working adults should/shouldn’t do. Have not had the same steady families or education. Before you can get and KEEP a job you need housing, transportation, clothing, food. If I took all those things away from you or and said “go get a job” what would our success rate be on getting them keeping employment??? Job corps are great but there is support ahead and post-corps that is needed for these folks to be productive members of society for the remainder of their life.
I encourage people to better understand the hardships these youth face when transitioning. Maybe then the go to response of just getting job will be better understood as not being the solo solution.
First Place for Youth is a great organization that provides these services for transitioning foster youth…I think they have an office in CoCoCo now. Take a look at their website and look at the services they provide. If you have time, volunteer. You’ll find it to be a great experience and an opportunity to really make an impact on issues we see in our city.
There is this thing called jobs. I worked one all through school. and you know what they are still hiring for almost any job for a high schooler. I also thing our current voting system is way off. not legit.
Fast food and retail jobs are low pay and have variable scheduling (24 hours one week, 32 the next, then back to 24). I do not see how anyone working even two of those jobs (assuming they can even be juggled with the varying schedules) can pay rent these days.
@double Dzzz, Read “reality says” comments he/she makes a lot of sense. It’s very easy to get on the computer and write negative comments. How about before you write, perhaps try to think back to when you were that age, then imagine, you had no place to call home, no one to guide you, and even discipline you, can those of you who are so quick to judge, honestly say, if you had been in that position, how would you have handled it. Reality’s comment is so spot on,
An attempt to reduce high school dropout rate, which is an embarrassment.
In case people aren’t aware, we’re not just living in clown world, we’re living in circus world!
Up is down, right is wrong.
How many “homeless” high school seniors are there???!!
Never heard or seen one!
Why can’t they get a job?
What about the actual homeless people including veterans, on the streets?!
Ridiculous!
🤦🏻♀️🎪🤡🌍
Of course there are homeless teenager, read the post above from the person who are familiar with the foster system. Some teenager have been abused trafficked for sex. Just because teenagers get help does not mean veterans shouldn’t.
It seems this discussion have turned into the philosophy should homeless teenager ger a little help to get a good start on adulthood. I’m not saying the government is the best answer, but l think it is ok to extend a helping hand. Probably best to help them at that age, rather than have them be out on the street for a few years. Teenager are more flexible and open, if they get in with the wrong people they might end up like them, thus harder to help later on.
I’m not for handing out money to just everyone. We are talking about teen agers in dire situations. Yes, I do think if you get “free” money so to speak, it is reasonable to expect them to not do drugs and not getting involved in crime, that’s why I wrote in my first post, I would need more information, before I decided if I was for or against it. My guess is many of these teens have had a rough childhood, if all of sudden they are totally on their own, they are vulnerable to someone taking advantage of them, getting them into drugs, or prostetution.
We are broke as a nation, state and quite a few citizens personally. The tax base is getting smaller all the time.
Solution to this national issue is to spend more and print more.
Kick the can down the highway until the country fails, no trust in the institutions.
Get yours while you can mentality…
We need a revolution in spirit, process and structure.
No. many resources are available for homeless …take advantage of those available and encourage those young people to connect with existing programs and churches for assistance.
So.. Is the goal to Encourage MORE High School students to leave home.. a $1,000 a month to some would move them, to become “Homeless”.. or band together… could rent a place..
She said there were something about that girl that she felt was positive, she took a chance, but followed her instinct. Yes it turned out well.
You are very unrealistic, l doubt 95 percent or higher of teenager would leave a loving home, where they have their own room, or even if they share with a sibling, to live on street. Any decent parent provide food clothing l, shelter and nurturing, should a teen ager be unrealistic enough to leave l doubt it wouldn’t be long before they would go back home.
Senate Bill 333, authored by Sen. Dave Cortese, would establish the Success, Opportunity, & Academic Resilience (SOAR), a guaranteed income pilot program that would offer a fund to all 12th grade homeless students who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence should be amended to incorporate that no guarantee take place without first establishing said “root cause of homeless high-school senior” eligible to receive and if they have mental health issues to address which can frequently lead to drug use with said funds.
So the projected budget deficit is 25 billion and this moron wants to give more money away. Almost as bad as the guy in LA that wants prisoners to be able to vote from jail. Who votes for these idiots.
District 15 Santa Clara residents voted to get this guy elected, thats who.
The weed dispensaries will make a killing off this free money for so called “Needy kids.”
“homeless” students are rarely without a home- they are more often doubled up (two families or more in one residence), sometimes couchsurfing by choice or were thrown out of home, etc
Totally against this, if you are a homeless teen in high school then you took the wrong fork in the road and that’s on you and your parents.
And the IRS wonders why people cheat on their taxes cuz they’re tired of paying for this garbage with their tax money.
The other states might just bus them over to Sacramento for us if we ask nice enough.
Have you ever heard of dysfunctional families. Orphaned children, child abuse, drug or alcohol addicted parents. You might be against this policy and l get that, but to put the blame solely on a teen ager, makes me wonder if you actually have given this much thought.
Not every dysfunctional teen would be supported by this proposal. Not all abused children. And if either of those was the driver, why are we only looking at high school seniors? Why not Juniors, or Sophomore’s? Etc?
This proposed policy is flawed because they are cherry picking the specific group they want to support, and I wonder why the high school seniors only?
I understand you don’t want to see a child hurt, hungry, etc, but in my opinion this proposal has way too many flaws/gaps to be considered as a real solution.
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