By Gary Warth
May 19, 2026
The County will provide $1.8 million to help fund a 35-unit home in Vista for youth transitioning out of foster care as part of a program in partnership with the city of Vista and local nonprofits.
“I think this is going to meet a crucial need for our region,” said Supervisor Jim Desmond, who worked with Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe on the item. “Unfortunately, approximately one in three former foster youth become homeless in their first two years after exiting foster care.”
Desmond also said it is unacceptable to assume that foster youths who may have endured years of trauma are ready to become self-sufficient on their 18th birthday.
The Vista home for former foster youths, ages 18-25, will operate in partnership with Dignity Moves, Casa de Amparo and TrueCare to provide on-site behavioral health and medical care, education and employment services, and case management.
The county dollars will come from the California Homekey+ initiative, which provides funding to expand behavioral health treatment, residential care settings and supportive housing.
RTFH Chief Operations Officer Lahela Mattox was among the public speakers who called in and voiced support for the project.
“From a regional homelessness perspective, we know this population faces some of the highest risks for housing instability and homelessness,” she said. “Young adults aging out of foster care often leave systems of care without stable housing, financial resources, family support and the connections that they need to successfully transition into adulthood.
This is in that kind of reflective, tightness targeted collaborative approach that we need in our region.”
Mattox also said RTFH supports the effort not only because it creates housing opportunities but because it helps interrupt cycles of homelessness.
Earlier in the meeting, supervisors also unanimously approved a plan to bill the healthcare system for homeless outreach services.
Under a new approach followed by the state, housing is seen as healthcare under the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal initiative, or CalAIM, which uses state and federal Medicaid dollars.
Montgomery Steppe introduced the proposal and said local government for decades have paid for outreach services while the healthcare system paid for the downstream consequences, including emergency room visits and crisis care.
The CalAIM initiative, the state’s Medi-Cal reform, changes the equation by having the healthcare system pay for housing-focused services that help people move off the street and into stable housing.
“Changes to Medi-Cal, under CalAIM, are changing the way healthcare is funded,” Montgomery Steppe said. “Under this new system, our county’s homeless outreach team can actually bill for the work that we are already doing.”
About 90% of the county’s Office of Homeless Solutions clients are Medi-Cal eligible and are the same population the healthcare system is now tasked with supporting through CalAIM, she said.
The OHS Regional Homeless Services team has an annual budget of about $7.1 million, which Montgomery Steppe said has been paid primarily by county taxpayers.
Under the system that will begin in 2027, the OHS will bill managed care plans, which are expected to provide up to $5.6 million in Medi-Cal revenue, potentially offsetting up to 78% of the Regional Homeless Services costs, she said.
