Background & Eligibility
This Free Stay Program is limited to underserved youth and families. As determined by the California Coastal Commission, underserved youth and families include low-income households; Black, Indigenous, and people of color; people with disabilities; youth who attend Title 1 schools (and their caregiver/s); and foster and transition-age youth. See definitions listed in Exhibit A.
Must Be a California Resident. (required)
Title 1 School: A school that receives funds under the Title 1 federal entitlement program that provides funds to schools in need based on student enrollment, the free and reduced lunch percentage for that school, and other informative data. Any school that is eligible for and accepts funds under any programs authorized by Title 1 of No Child Left Behind is a “Title 1 school”. Anyone can determine if a child’s school is a “Title 1 school” by searching the Public Schools database supplied by the National Center for Education Statistics at Search For Schools and Colleges (ed.gov) (https://nces.ed.gov/globallocator). Disability: In California, disabilities are broadly defined as conditions that limit a major life activity, including physical and mental disabilities, as well as medical conditions such as cancer or HIV/AIDS. Transition age youth are usually aged 16 -24 and transitioning out of foster care or juvenile detention facilities, youth who have run away from home or dropped out of school, and youth with disabilities (www.youth.gov). Low-Income individuals and: The phrase “low income” can be calculated by any of three methods:
Using the Area Median Household Income for your county income limits as published by the California Department of Housing and Community Development income-limits-2021.pdf (ca.gov) (https://www.hcd.ca.gov/grants-funding/income-limits/state-and-federal-income-limits/docs/income-limits-2021.pdf). For example, a family of four living in San Diego, with a household income of less than $97,000, would qualify as low income to participate in the Free Camping Program.
| Family size | 60% Income | 65% Inc. | 70% Inc. | 80% Inc. |
| One | $50,940 | $55,150 | $59,400 | $67,900 |
| Two | $58,200 | $63,050 | $67,900 | $77,600 |
| Three | $65,460 | $70,900 | $76,350 | $87,300 |
| Four | $72,720 | $78,800 | $84,850 | $97,000 |
| Five | $78,540 | $85,100 | $91,650 | $104,800 |
| Six | $84,360 | $91,400 | $98,450 | $112,550 |
| Seven | $90,180 | $97,700 | $105,200 | $120,300 |
| Eight | $96,000 | $104,000 | $112,000 | $128,050 |
using the United States Health and Human Services poverty guidelines for the number of persons in a family/household, which can be found here Poverty Guidelines | ASPE (hhs.gov)( https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/poverty-guidelines). For example, under the 2022 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, the Poverty Guideline for a family of 5 is $32,470.
using the housing burden analysis to determine if the persons/household in a census tract is both low income (making less than 80% of their county’s median family income) and severely burdened by housing costs (paying greater than 50% of their income for housing costs). This information can be found at Housing Burden | OEHHA (ca.gov)( https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/indicator/housing-burden. For example, census tract 6073015801 in El Cajon has 3,544 people, and 34 percent of people in this census tract are housing burdened low-income households.
