Statement by Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative Director Dr. Margot Kushel on 2023 Point-In-Time Homeless Count
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SAN FRANCISCO (December 15, 2023) – Following is a statement by Dr. Margot Kushel, MD, Director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI) at the University of California, San Francisco on the 2023 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Dr. Kushel is the principal investigator of The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH), the largest representative study of homelessness in the United States since the mid-1990s. Released in June, CASPEH provides a comprehensive look at the causes and consequences of homelessness in California and recommends policy changes to shape programs in response.
“The increase in numbers of people experiencing homelessness in 2023 underscores what we learned in our CA statewide study of people experiencing homelessness: The homeless crisis is driven by skyrocketing rents, flat incomes, and widening income equality.
“Unfortunately, this is not a surprise. During the pandemic there were heroic federal, state, and local efforts to prevent homelessness – including an unprecedented level of emergency funding and an eviction moratorium. The funding and the eviction protections ended, but the need continued. Skyrocketing rents coupled with increased costs for groceries and other essentials and flat income is the recipe for increased homelessness. And that is exactly what we are seeing.
“Homelessness is an ongoing calamity, but it is solvable. It will take a significant, ongoing investment sense of urgency at the national and state level that we bring to bear for other national crises. We need to increase support for Housing Choice Vouchers and for the development of affordable housing. We need to increase funding to sustain the affordable housing we currently have and increase the ability to use Medicaid funding to pay for supportive services. In addition, we need to change zoning laws and speed up the development of housing. And we need to increase wages for low-income workers and decrease the gap between income and rent.
“The solution to homelessness is housing – specifically, housing that is affordable to the lowest income members of our society. We know how to solve homelessness. What we lack is the political will to do so.
“California homelessness is up to 181,399 – a six percent increase in the last year. This catastrophic rise, while lower than the rest of the country, is a sign of the work ahead. In California, we need to double down on policies that address the root cause of this crisis – the dramatic shortage of housing available and affordable to the lowest income renters. We know that those experiencing homelessness in California are Californians. We know that in California, we are 1,000,000 units short of those affordable and available for extremely low-income households, placing them at high risk of homelessness. We need to focus on increasing our supply of housing, decreasing the costs of housing, increasing incomes to our lowest income households, and increasing housing subsidies for those who need them. The solution to homelessness in California – and everywhere – is housing.”
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About UCSF BHHI
The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative provides accurate, timely policy-oriented research about homelessness for local, state, and national policymakers and practitioners. Funded by a generous gift from Marc and Lynne Benioff and based at the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, UCSF BHHI is a trusted source for evidence-based practice, policy, and scalable solutions—turning evidence into action to prevent and end homelessness.
Contact: Beth Weaver at OUUVzrqvn@hpfs.rqhude.fscu@aidemIHHB