Resource Center

Health impacts of encampment sweeps, racial inequities in harm reduction, and more homelessness and housing news from the past week that you may have missed.

This podcast episode highlights homelessness’ impact on health, the structural and racialized nature of homelessness, and practical interventions to address housing inequities. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, and Bobby Watts discuss what brought them into their fields, how their work reaches the most marginalized, and what can be done at the community and structural level to address homelessness.

The asset economy, social housing, and more homelessness and housing news from the past week that you may have missed.

Ned Resnikoff, policy manager for the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, wrote about the relationship between the asset economy and homelessness.

Vehicular homelessness in Oakland, pandemic-era mortality rates in San Francisco, and more homelessness and housing news from the past week that you may have missed.

Ned Resnikoff, policy manager at the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said the best long-term solution to homelessness is to build more low-income housing. In the interim, people who are currently homeless need to be moved into housing. Mr. Resnikoff said resources need to be strategically funneled into preventing homelessness, and permanent rental subsidies could be one solution to helping prevent homelessness.

A new BHHI report sheds light an oft-misunderstood subpopulation of unhoused people.

BHHI conducted in-depth interviews with 48 people living in their vehicles in Oakland. This report sheds light on the needs and challenges of vehicle residents and provides recommendations on how the city can better serve that population.

More than twice as many people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco died during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with previous years, and the leading cause of death was drug overdose. No deaths were attributed to the virus itself. "Death from the COVID-19 pandemic may have been avoided, but deaths from other factors known to impact this population disproportionately—drug use and violence—have increased," said Maria Raven, MD, MPH, Chief of Emergency Medicine at UCSF, who co-leads the program on adults with complex needs at the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. "Mitigating death among people experiencing homelessness will require a multi-faceted approach and a willingness to invest significant resources."

Maria Raven, MD, spoke about a new UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative study that found 331 homeless San Franciscans died during the first 12 months of the coronavirus pandemic—more than double any previous year. Acute drug toxicity was the leading cause of death. Traumatic injuries, including suicide and homicide, were the second most common, followed by chronic medical conditions. Interventions like shelter-in-place hotels may have helped mitigate deaths due to COVID-19 and related health conditions, but lockdowns and increased isolation may have compounded other risks.

This study from UCSF BHHI researchers examined deaths among people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. They found 82% of 331 deaths were associated with drug overdose, not COVID-19 infection. Traumatic injury, including homicide and suicide, was the second most common cause of death. This research highlights a need for strategies that address both homelessness and drug use, including housing, evidence-based treatment of opioid addiction, and overdose prevention programs.

CARE Courts, tiny homes in San Francisco, and more homelessness and housing news from the past week that you may have missed.

A study from UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative examined implementation of a rapid COVID-19 test and response model in congregate shelters in San Francisco. The pilot allowed for detection and isolation of cases among staff and residents. Researchers recommend frequent testing with rapid turnaround as an important public health intervention to improve accessibility and availability of testing, identification, and isolation of COVID-19 positive cases in shelters.

Unstable housing has been associated with a higher risk of kidney disease and kidney disease progression. In this review, researchers discussed the underlying mechanisms of housing and kidney disease. Several considerations should be taken into account when working with individuals experiencing unstable housing or at risk for kidney disease. This review sheds light on that housing interventions can improve outcomes.

A new federal housing bill, unleash the duplex, and more homelessness and housing news from the past week that you may have missed.

This UCSF study examined deaths among people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco from 2016 to 2018. Although heart disease and cancer are the first and second causes of death for California’s general population, the leading causes of homeless deaths were acute intoxication (unintended overdose) and trauma (including homicide and suicide rates over triple that of the US general population). The authors advocate that these differences in cause-specific mortality should inform death prevention efforts within the homeless population differently than the general population.