In this op-ed, Margot Kushel, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF, highlights the frequency people experiencing homelessness are exposed to violence. Across the country, people are viewing the presence of people experiencing homelessness on public transportation as a thread, leading efforts to remove individuals sleeping on public transportation. "Throughout literature, sleep has been a metaphor for death. But, in real life, sleep should mean neither death nor arrest. We need to focus on real solutions — increasing housing affordability and the services that allow people to thrive — instead of demonizing tired, frightened people" Dr. Kushel writes.
