CalMatters has been awarded the Stewart B. McKinney Award by the National Homelessness Law Center

CalMatters was honored with the National Homelessness Law Center’s Stewart B. McKinney Award in November. The awards recognize “leaders who raise awareness and promote solutions to homelessness and poverty.”

As part of its Human Rights to Housing Awards 2025, the centre emphasized “A multi-part CalMatters multimedia series spending several months interviewing experts on homelessness, conducting deep research into all available data, and most importantly, visiting encampments to document first-hand how law enforcement efforts have displaced homeless people and the devastating consequences of these cruel and inhumane sweeps. It is exactly this type of journalistic integrity that our country so desperately needs in this time of misinformation and we are so grateful for the high-quality reporting CalMatters provides on the homelessness crisis.”

CalMatters reports have captured the daily reality of homeless people on California’s streets.

A great example of this is our series documenting the impact of Grants Pass v. Johnson, when the US Supreme Court ruled that cities did not have to have a shelter bed before punishing someone for sleeping on the street. That decision, stemming from an ordinance passed by an Oregon city, had huge implications for California, home to more homeless people than any other state, more than 187,000 at the last count.

CalMatters journalists spent four months interviewing experts, requesting data and making a dozen visits to encampments in San Francisco and Fresno to document enforcement efforts and track homeless people displaced when their encampments were cleared. Our public media partner, KPBS, did extensive reporting and visited camps in San Diego.

Our reports have shown that every time a homeless person is forced to move, the likelihood of losing something increases. This can include identification and documentation critical to obtaining housing and the medications a person needs to survive. Relocation also makes it difficult for someone to stay in touch with case managers and social workers who work to place homeless people in housing.

Homeless Californians also have greater difficulty finding work and keeping appointments such as court dates. Every time they are arrested or forced to move, it becomes more difficult. Missed court dates can eventually lead to warrants and fines: More barriers to getting housing and getting off the street.

CalMatters’ coverage of homelessness also includes numerous investigations, stories and resources. Our work has led to real-world impact.

They were two Californian families reunited in 2025 after seeing loved ones who are homeless quoted in CalMatters articles. A woman found her sister after losing contact with her in 2019. Another woman found her father, whom she had been searching for without success. In addition to sharing the stories of these two familiesCalMatters has also created a resource for what to do if your loved one is homeless.

Frémont relented after proposing a ban on “aiding and abetting” homeless encampments.

In 2025, the Fremont City Council revised a new camping ordinance in the city, removal what has become a controversial clause – first reported by CalMatters — that could punish these camps for “aiding and abetting.” The ordinance prohibits camping on streets, sidewalks, parks and other public property, but what separates it from other efforts is the express language that would make anyone who “causes, permits, aids, abets or conceals” illegal camping guilty of a felony. Local homeless advocates feared it could be enforced against workers and volunteers providing assistance to homeless people in Fremont.

Deputies proposed a new bill for increasing oversight of homeless shelters, citing our reports as a catalyst for action.

Under new offerlocal governments would be required to conduct annual inspections of taxpayer-funded shelters, and cities and counties could lose state funding if they fail to correct code violations or continue to neglect mandatory reporting. The bill has passed the Assembly and is in the Senate. The 2025 proposal followed CalMatters exposé on the failures of homeless sheltersand our 2024 investigation reveals that cities and counties were ignoring state law requiring basic checks for safety and sanitation in shelters. Watch lawmakers debate this bill and our reporting.

A CalMatters lawsuit forced Los Angeles officials to turn over secret complaints to a homeless shelter.

In 2025, Los Angeles authorities began releasing thousands of internal records related to conditions at homeless shelters in response to CalMatters lawsuit challenging their repeated denials of public records. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, better known as LAHSA, has committed to releasing at least 175 incident reports each week until the public records request is fulfilled. The agency estimates there are 5,000 such reports.

Read all CalMatters coverage on homelessness in California.