The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH) Lived Expertise Advisory Board is a group of 9 advisors from across the state of California who represent a range of lived or living experiences of homelessness—from rural and urban communities, living sheltered and unsheltered, young and old, in families and single. Our board members are integral advisors to UCSF BHHI staff in the development, implementation and dissemination of the CASPEH in the following ways:

  • Reviewing survey questions and in-depth interview guides
  • Developing Outreach and Community Engagement Strategies
  • Interpreting Survey Findings
  • Co-Writing Dissemination Materials
  • Co-Presenting Study Findings to local and national audiences
  • And much more!

 

Lived Expertise Advisory Board Members

I'm on the Lived Expertise Advisory Board for the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative because I have been in the shoes of others who are currently struggling with homelessness and housing and I want mine and our voices to be heard.

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Michelle Ochoa
Michelle Ochoa
Lived Expertise Advisory Board Representative

Homelessness is not the end all be all, it's not the only thing that you are, this is not a label you have to wear. It's just a circumstance you got to push through. At the same time though, [I have had] the luxury of moving past this. That's why I make sure that no matter how long I've gone through something, I'm informing people about what the process was. So that way they can see a human behind the numbers and the [behind the] names on the files.

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Sage Johnson
Sage Johnson
Lived Expertise Advisory Board Co-Chair

I believe so strongly in affirming the dignity of humans. The word human levels the playing field. It doesn't matter if you're housed or unhoused, or if you're a white person, or a BIPOC person, we're all human. And it means that we each have value and we have worth and we need to treat each other in that way. I'm just using it as a way to remind especially the community members that are so hateful toward homelessness solutions that these people are human! They're just like you. You have a need for food and water every day and to use the bathroom, they have the same needs. Like there's no difference between you and them other than you being housed and getting those basic essential needs [met] every day.

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Claudine Sipili
Claudine Sipili
Lived Expertise Advisory Board Co-Chair

Questions? 

Kara Young Ponder, PhD
Director of Community Engagement & Racial Justice, Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative 
Email: Kara.Ponder@ucsf.edu