On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that cities may arrest and fine people for resting outside, even when they have nowhere else to go. This is an extreme decision that will have a dangerous and negative impact on people experiencing homelessness and do nothing to end homelessness. Read BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel’s full statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson.

In this op-ed, Margot Kushel, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF, highlights the cruelty and counterproductive policies in light of the US Supreme Court's ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. She outlines the systemic issue of state and local governments punishing people who experience homelessness and calls for fixing the affordable housing problem. "It is now up to us to insist that our local and state officials instead enact policies that will end homelessness by providing safe, secure and affordable housing for all of us." Dr. Kushel writes. This op-ed was published as part of the Public Voices Fellowship in partnership with The OpEd Project and funding from the California Health Care Foundation.

In this op-ed, Morgan Philbin, PhD, MHS, associate director at the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative and director of the Educations Program, and Emilie Bruzelius, PhD, MPH, a post-doctoral fellow in substance use epidemiology at Columbia University, advocates for rolling back punitive policies and creating non-stigmatizing medical environments that can support pregnant people who use drugs. They outline the unique barriers that people who are pregnant face. They write, "All stakeholders—healthcare providers and policymakers—must bring compassion to innovative drug policies that are fueled by science instead of stigma." This op-ed was published as part of the Public Voices Fellowship in partnership with The OpEd Project and funding from the California Health Care Foundation.

Most people experiencing homelessness in California do so in unsheltered settings, such as outdoors or in vehicles. This webinar is about the causes and consequences of unsheltered homelessness. Margot Kushel, MD, moderated a conversation with Marc Dones, Ashley Meehan, MPH, and Carter Hewgley, discussing recommendations and solutions for addressing unsheltered homelessness in a way that preserves health, dignity, and civil rights for those experiencing it.

Are you a researcher who wants to include people with lived experience in your research? Are you an organization that wants to authentically involve community members in your program development or evaluation? The UCSF BHHI recently released a report on the largest representative study of homelessness in the United States since the mid-1990s—the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH). The CASPEH was guided by a Lived Expertise Advisory Board—a group of advisors from across the state of California who represent a range of lived and living experiences of homelessness. Join Kara Young Ponder, PhD, Lived Expertise Advisory Board Members Michelle Ochoa, Dez Martinez, and Robynne Rose-Haymer as they discuss the nuts and bolts of how they did research together from designing survey questions to helping train field staff, analyzing data and disseminating findings. 

Black Californians are nearly four times more likely than White Californians to experience homelessness. This webinar is about the causes and consequences of homelessness for Black Californians. Kara Young Ponder, PhD, Tiana Moore, PhD, Lived Expertise Advisory Board Members Sage Johnson and Robynne Rose-Haymer, and National Alliance to End Homelessness VP of Research and Evidence Joy Moses discussed findings from the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH), highlighted key policy recommendations, and answered audience questions.