The State of California is currently in possession of more than $6.1 billion in Unclaimed Property belonging to approximately 17.6 million individuals and organizations.

The State acquires unclaimed property through California's Unclaimed Property Law, which requires "holders" such as corporations, business associations, financial institutions, and insurance companies to annually report and deliver property to the Controller's Office after there has been no customer contact for three years. Often the owner forgets that the account exists, or moves and does not leave a forwarding address or the forwarding order expires. In some cases, the owner dies and the heirs have no knowledge of the property.

If california used families on welfare to help clean up these properties, and bring the buildings up to code we can use these abondoned buildings in order to build homes for the homeless. It would put thousands of people to work and sive shelter for those families on the street. The projects can also be used as an educational program for those on welfare and train carmenters, construstion workers, painters and electricians and allow families on welfare to continue collecting while being trained. We can offer the free training while welfare recipiants learning a new trade. After the project is finished the state can hire some of those whom helped on the project in order to maintain the upkeep of the property.