Published on February 12, 2026
Taking Direct Cash to City Hall: 2026 Policy Push
Follow Larry Cohen and our youth consultant Garrett Mason on a journey to City Hall, exposing the gap between what works and what gets funded.
On one of the coldest days of the year…
By Larry Cohen • February 12, 2026
Our youth consultant Garrett Mason and I filmed a trip to City Hall. The journey captures something bigger than a commute; it captures the distance between what we already know works and what our public systems still don’t routinely fund.
In the video, Garrett asks the question at the heart of our work: Why put cash directly into the hands of young people as prevention? My answer is simple: ask a young person, “What do you need to be stable?” Then fund that specific need—before they ever enter the homeless system. Over and over, we’ve seen that direct cash is one of the most cost-effective and healing tools we have.
Now we’re pushing for the next step: making this model part of publicly funded homelessness prevention—not just a set of privately funded pilots with finite reach. Scale matters. If you’re the 51st person in a 50-person pilot, you don’t get help—you wait.
And for many young people, waiting isn’t an option. Once a young person becomes homeless, the harm deepens and the costs rise fast.
That’s why this year we’re launching government affairs initiatives in key locations, starting with California, Michigan, New York, and Maryland.
What we’re bringing to local officials isn’t theoretical—it’s been proven elsewhere. Oregon is already funding both direct cash for prevention and a two-year direct cash program for young people who are already experiencing homelessness. The results have been strong enough that both efforts are expanding across the state.
Our goal is straightforward: move direct cash from “promising innovation” to a fully funded, widely available intervention. That means working with city halls, counties, and states to invest in what works so fewer young people ever have to experience homelessness.
If it resonates, share it—and if you know a local leader who should hear about this, let us know. We’d love to connect.
We can and we will prevent youth homelessness.
Yours,
Larry Cohen,
Co-Founder, Point Source Youth
