UCSF Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative

⛺️In CA, 78% of people experiencing homelessness live unsheltered, facing severe health risks and violence.  Today, we released a brief and two resources to help communities across the nation resolve this crisis: 🔍 Most unsheltered Californians (72%) are people of color, highlighting the role structural #racism plays in the #homelessness crisis and the need to ensure outreach, shelter, and housing services are culturally geared toward people of color. 💡 We can solve unsheltered homelessness with a robust blend of prevention, evidence-based encampment resolution strategies, and more accessible temporary shelter and permanent housing options. 🛠️ Alongside our new brief, we’ve developed the Encampment Resolution Guide & Prioritization Tool to help communities transition encampment residents to stable housing. Click the link below to access the topic brief and accompanying tools: https://lnkd.in/gpdFP738 Authors: Margot Kushel MD; Marc Dones; Marisa Espinoza, MPA; Eve Perry, MPP. #endhomelessness #healthequity

Many unsheltered individuals struggle to find housing due to affordability issues, lack of support from case managers, and missing documents. Only a small percentage receive regular housing assistance, compared to those in shelters. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gvCZcGDS

Rental housing is out of reach for workers in bottom half of the wage distribution, shows a recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. When there’s not enough affordable housing for those with the lowest incomes, homelessness rates rise. It also creates bottlenecks in shelters, since people can’t move out if there’s nowhere affordable for them to go. The result? More people get stuck in shelters, some end up back on the streets, and fewer spots open up for those newly facing homelessness. Learn how housing availability impacts shelter utilization rates: https://lnkd.in/gvCZcGDS

Unsheltered adults have significant physical health needs. Here what policymakers, clinical leaders, and CoC leaders can do to provide better support: 1️⃣ Invest in low-barrier clinics, street medicine, chronic disease care, reproductive health, harm reduction, and substance use treatment. 2️⃣ Enable PSH providers to fully access Medicaid, including home/community services, and foster PSH-healthcare partnerships. 3️⃣ Build capacity for homeless services to bill Medicaid with technical support and healthcare collaborations. 📖 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gn4eUwte #PSH #Medicaid #HealthEquity #HealthPolicy

Unsheltered adults experience complex behavioral health challenges but have difficulty accessing treatment. Our recommendations: • Integrate behavioral health into mobile medical support. • Stratify services by need for quicker housing. • Fully fund ACT and ICM teams for stabilization. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gvCZcGDS #MentalHealth #BehavioralHealth #HousingFirst

Findings from the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness show that intimate partner violence (IPV) and homelessness are intertwined. This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we'd like to emphasize the critical role housing plays in allowing people to seek safety from intimate partner violence. As one CASPEH participant said, "...People that are in abusive relationships would get out if they had an out to go to..." Read our recent report to learn more about: ➡️ The connection between intimate partner violence and homelessness ➡️ Evidence-based solutions for preventing and responding to homelessness among survivors of IPV https://lnkd.in/gSbe4k2i #DVAM2024

This #LungCancerAwarenessMonth, let’s look on the impact of stable housing on health. ➡️ Homeless veterans who gained housing after lung, colorectal, and breast cancer had higher survival rates than those who remain unhoused. Read this crucial research by Hannah Decker, MD; Laura A. Graham, PhD, MPH; Ashley Titan M.D.; Hemal Kanzaria, MD; Mary Hawn, MD; Elizabeth Wick, MD; Margot Kushel MD. 🔗https://lnkd.in/gKMyFZP9

🎧 Tune in - BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel MD shares insights alongside Luis Castellon, Constanza Pachon, MBA, Colleen Murphy, and Amy Turk, LCSW on today's episode of Homeland. United Way of Greater Los Angeles (streaming on Apple, Amazon, and Spotify). Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gJhtSKpz

Loved visiting w colleagues from Pathways in London to discuss homelessness and health. Despite all the differences between healthcare in UK and US, many more similarities than differences. And so much shared learning! Look forward to more collaboration and shared learning!

Save the Date! On October 22nd, Princeton University will host a pivotal discussion on America’s homelessness crisis, featuring BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel MD, Jerusalem Demsas, Steve Banks, and Matthew Desmond. 📅 When: October 22, 2024, 5 PM - 6:30 PM ET 📍 Where: Friend Center 101, Princeton University or watch the livestream 🎟️ Free and open to all! Hear from top voices in housing and homelessness solutions. https://lnkd.in/eEF4JAyj #HomelessnessCrisis #PrincetonEvents