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The gap between wages and housing prices has pushed more workers into homelessness. Increasing the number of affordable housing units is key. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benio...

Since the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson on June 28th loosed clearance rules, 12 California cities or counties have passed camping bans, while another nine are considering them or have already given initial approval. Palm Springs stopped short of exercising all authority granted to cities, with the new ordinance complying with a previous court ruling. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "We need housing. We need subsidies. We need not just affordable housing, but we need deeply affordable housing."

Governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order allowing state and local officials to dismantle homeless encampments has drawn mixed reactions from homelessness experts within California. he executive order calls for state agencies to remove homeless encampments from state lands, such as state parks, beaches, agency buildings, highways, and the areas beneath them. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "A lot of harm can come from sweeps, and ultimately, if you don’t offer people a real outcome, they’re just going to have to move someplace else because they can’t dematerialize; they will show up someplace else."

California’s homeless crisis is reaching unprecedented levels. In this podcast episode of Invisible People, Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations and the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, breaks down the findings of the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH). Dr. Kushel said, "We need to have a maniacal focus on creating more housing."

In this episode of KPFA Letters and Politics, host Mitch Jeserich spoke with Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, about the myths and misinformation about homelessness. Dr. Kushel said, "This idea of a max exodus is simply not true. "

As the number of people experiencing homelessness in California has grown, so has the pressure on state and local leaders to improve the situation. On July 25th, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing state agencies to clear encampments from state-owned land. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "This didn’t happen overnight. … It’s hard to unwind 40 years of bad policies in four years."

Governor Newsom of California and advocates agree that the homelessness crisis is decades in the making, but opinions differ over whether Governor Newsom's conservative policy approach will help fix the issue. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "There is no easy way out of this. I have deep compassion for everybody’s frustration. I’m frustrated. I want this problem to be over. I understand this is unacceptable, but I think when you’re in a hole, you need to stop digging."

More than 3,000 of the 11,500 people who died while unhoused in Los Angeles County between 2014 and 2023 were 60 and older. This crisis has grown over time. In a groundbreaking study on homelessness in California by Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative researchers found that nearly half of unhoused adults were age 50 and older. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "They talk about how ashamed and stigmatized they feel – they know the public thinks they’re bad because they’re outside. And they just feel incredibly alone in the world."

On June 28, 2024, the US Supreme Court ruled in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson, that arresting and fining people experiencing homelessness who are camping and sleeping in public spaces does not violate their Eighth Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, speaks with Jeffery Norris on the likely impacts in California and across the country.

The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative released a special report on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and homelessness. The report found that 8 percent of the unhoused experienced IPV, a more formal term for much domestic violence, including 17 percent of all women living on the streets or in homeless shelters. Domestic violence causes and prolongs homelessness. More should be done to prevent domestic violence.