Unsheltered Homelessness

In January 2025, the City of Berkeley launched an innovative program to resolve the 2nd Street encampment by combining a low-barrier motel shelter with cash payments for residents’ RVs. Outreach workers built trust and tailored policies—allowing pets, partners, and friends—to boost participation. So far, 36 people and 26 animals have moved into the Capri Motel, and only three RVs remain on site. “The city designed this to really gain people’s trust and to make sure that people were not left worse off than they were when they started,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, calling the program “quite innovative.” BHHI is independently evaluating its impacts to inform future strategies.

Since the US Supreme Court ruled in the case of City of Grants Pass v. Johnson in June 2024, there has been an increase in the number of encampment sweeps. After the ruling, Governor Newsom of California issued an executive order directing state and local officials to dismantle homeless encampments. Street medicine services have never been more important as they provide lifesaving services by resupplying vital medication or medical supplies, hospitalizing patients with severe mental or physical health conditions, and finding medical respite care facilities. Marc Dones, policy director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "It is very straightforwardly the case that displacement costs more than a lot of other strategies that we could use."

This research letter discusses the experience of violence during homelessness, its impact on health, and recommendations for intervention. In the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness, 38% of participants experienced violence during their current homelessness episode, and 74% of participants reported experiencing violence at some point in their lives. These results highlight the need to address violence against people experiencing homelessness through safer housing options, trauma-informed care, and long-term violence prevention strategies.