News

Dr. Kushel shares compelling insights from her three decades of clinical practice and research, revealing how the lack of affordable housing creates impossible situations for healthcare providers trying to treat patients experiencing homelessness. From managing diabetes in a tent to storing insulin without refrigeration, she illustrates why "there is no medicine as powerful as housing."

Housing First—especially permanent supportive housing for people with complex needs—helps people stay housed and reduces reliance on emergency systems. BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel discusses the potential fallout of cutting back on these proven approaches with the Guardian.

When encampments are cleared without the right supports, people have no option but to return to the streets—this time without the items that helped protect their health. Tents, blankets, ...

Experts worry California will be blacklisted from federal homelessness dollars, effectively counteracting recent progress.

Research shows that people living in RVs want permanent housing but are hesitant to give up their biggest asset for a temporary shelter stay. Berkeley just closed a lonstanding encampment...

The United States is taking a sharp turn in how it addresses homelessness after a new executive order calling for more "involuntary commitment," which is a process in which mental health workers can forcibly detain and medicate people against their will. Studies have shown that the housing first model is significantly cheaper and more effective than involuntary detention. "Americans want there to be no homelessness. And this is...a formula to worsen homelessness," says BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel of efforts to expand involuntary detentions & withdraw funding from communities that don't comply.

The number of homeless people in L.A. County living on the street dropped last year, bucking trends elsewhere in the U.S. Ayesha Rascoe and Nick Gerda talk with experts about what this sa...

What does it mean to be working, but still homeless? BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel joined Brian Goldstone on KQED Forum to discuss hidden homelessness and what needs to change.

In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for cities to remove homeless encampments, California cities have redoubled enforcement efforts. For people caught up in sweeps in cities like Berkeley, Oakland, and Vallejo, the same question echoes again and again: “Where do I go now?” “The biggest problem with criminalization...[is] that criminalization worsens homelessness,” says BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel. “The public should...say, ‘Why are you taking expensive efforts to worsen a problem? This problem is 40 years in the making.”

As cities work to clean up homeless encampments under increasing pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom and housed residents, RV communities present a distinct — and notoriously difficult — challenge, especially with more and more Californians taking up residence in them. UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative Director, Margot Kushel, found in her research that people living in RVs are reluctant to give them up for anything short of permanent housing — a dilemma when there’s little to offer. Berkeley officials designed their strategy with that in mind. To get the program to work, city staff and nonprofit outreach workers spent roughly three months coaxing residents, explaining their offer, listening to concerns and making accommodations to the shelter policies where possible. A one-dog-per-person rule stretched to allow four dogs in one room; friends were allowed to bunk together.