Empowering Formerly Homeless Older Adults to Engage in Advance Care Planning in Permanent Supportive Housing (ACP-PSH): A Randomized Controlled Trial. Advance care planning (ACP) prepares people to make informed medical decisions that are best for them so their wishes can be honored in the case of serious illness or at the end of life.

The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative recently completed a new study to better understand homelessness across the state of California.

Understanding What Helps People Move from Encampments Into Shelter In January 2025, the City of Berkeley launched an innovative encampment resolution initiative at 2nd and Cedar Street. The program pairs low-barrier shelter and case management services with a rare offering: cash payments to residents in exchange for their RVs. At the City’s request, the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI) is conducting a scientifically rigorous, independent evaluation to understand what works, what doesn’t, and how future programs can better support people as they move from encampments into shelter and housing. What We're Studying Through in-depth interviews and ethnographic observation

The COORDINATE Home (CrOss-sectOR Data INtegrAtion To End HOMElessness) team analyzes San Francisco’s Coordinated Case Management System (CCMS) to evaluate policy-relevant questions. CCMS links data on the use of the homeless, public health, substance use and mental health systems, jail, and ambulances.

In collaboration with community partners in the Bay Area, UCSF BHHI is conducting the only randomized controlled trial in the U.S. focused solely on family homelessness.

BHHI evaluated the Home Safe program following a request by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS).

Health Outcomes of People Experiencing Homelessness in Older Middle Age (HOPE HOME) Since 2013, Dr. Margot Kushel has led the Health Outcomes of People Experiencing Homelessness in Older Middle Age (HOPE HOME) project, an NIA-funded longitudinal study involving hundreds of older adults (age 50 and older) experiencing homelessness. Based in Oakland, the study includes semi-annual visits for structured interviews, cognitive and physical assessments, as well as qualitative interviews, and ethnographic observations. With more than 30 peer reviewed publications thus far, the study has produced numerous findings relevant to exploring the causes and consequences of homelessness among older adults. For the

UCSF BHHI is leading the way in California when it comes to the implementation of shallow subsidies to prevent homelessness and housing insecurity. This longitudinal study aims to determine the impact of shallow subsidies on housing stability and homelessness prevention.

As California’s homelessness crisis has continued to grow, so has the range and scale of efforts to address it. To understand these efforts in greater depth and inform their ongoing implementation, the UC Berkeley Terner Center, UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI), and Abt Associates collaborated on a research project focused on homelessness in California. Our findings come from hundreds of in-depth interviews with people experiencing homelessness, government officials, non-profit leaders, front-line workers, and other stakeholders from local homelessness and housing organizations throughout California. We also analyzed quantitative data from local homelessness services, shelter, and housing programs. The Statewide

The COVID-19-Oriented Resident of Oversized Vehicle Assessment (COROVA) report consists of 48 in-depth qualitative interviews with people who live in oversized vehicles, such as RVs or school buses, to understand their housing and service needs.