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Learning Collaborative Advisory Board
The Learning Collaborative Advisory Board was a coalition of county-level actors in the eight counties where we conducted the CASPEH. These advisors lent their expertise to support our study design process, helped us learn quickly on the ground, and collaboratively catalyzed broad community-based impact. Members of this CAB include representatives from the Continuum of Care boards, non-profit organizations, and service providers involved in the implementation of the study. These practitioners helped our research team: understand local contexts and politics pre-fieldwork develop and implement best practices around study administration strategize on the implementation of the survey and qualitative research troubleshoot with
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Lived Experience
“We work alongside and with community advisory boards made up of people who themselves are the true experts, people with lived experience. We involve them in every step. They're helping us write the questionnaires, decide on the study design, figure out what questions to ask, interpret our findings and communicate them.” – Margot Kushel, MD The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative is at the forefront of a movement to include people with lived experience of homelessness and housing insecurity in every aspect of our work. Those with lived expertise have unique perspectives to help shape groundbreaking policies and strategic
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Lived Expertise Advisory Board
The BHHI 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!
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Media
Our work is regularly cited in national and local news outlets. Below is a collection of recent news coverage.
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Mission & Vision
The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative conducts rigorous research to inform effective, evidence-based solutions. We center the perspectives of those who have experienced homelessness and rely on their expertise to inform critical aspects of research, program design, analysis, and policy recommendations. We acknowledge that structural racism is a root cause of homelessness and center racial equity in our individual, organizational, and collective work to prevent and end homelessness. We use strategic science to address gaps in knowledge where our research can inform policies to help our communities thrive. Our findings help inform policymakers and practitioners about effective homelessness and
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Observational Designs: Linked Administrative Data Sets
Our team has expertise using linked administrative data sets to learn about populations. By merging administrative data (such as data from health systems, housing systems, Homeless Management Information Systems, and other public sector resources), we can explore the impact of policy changes or new programs. We use de-identified data to do this, using best practices to guard privacy and adhere to all ethical principles.
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Observational Designs: Primary Data Collection
Observational studies, including surveys, longitudinal cohort studies, and qualitative studies, provide essential insights. We have expertise recruiting samples that are representative of the underlying population and using sample weighting to draw estimates of effect. We design questionnaires that use validated instruments that allow for comparisons to data in the general population, and administer these using trauma-informed practices that allow for honest, non-traumatizing responses. We conduct longitudinal cohort studies wherein we follow a group of people over time, allowing us to observe what happens as people enter and exit homelessness. Using novel methods, we achieve follow-up rates comparable to high-quality studies
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Our Approach
The UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative leverages strategic science to educate future housing leaders and inform policy decision-makers on homelessness. Our partnerships help us create lasting positive change within the communities most affected by homelessness and housing instability across the United States. Strategic Science & Community-Engaged Research We strive to reduce the burden of homelessness, using a combined framework of strategic science and community-engaged research to inform perspectives, policies, and practices. Designed to address gaps in knowledge important to policy decision-making, strategic science depends on the reciprocal exchange of information between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners. In community-engaged research, researchers
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Our Impact
Our work directly impacts people experiencing homelessness and housing instability in San Francisco, the state of California, and across the United States.
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Our Partnerships
Community partnerships and community engaged research methods make up the backbone of our research and dissemination strategies at UCSF BHHI. We believe that it is only through authentic, honest, and transparent collaborations that we can prevent and end homelessness. We have four main approaches to partnerships: Lived Experience Advisors: We work with people who have lived and living experiences of homelessness as high level advisors, researchers, and community workers to ensure our research is respectful and informed by first-hand expertise. Academic Collaborations: We co-lead research projects with other top academic institutions around the country. Government Partnerships: We collaborate directly with
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Our Studies
UCSF BHHI’s comprehensive studies center around the lived experience of people facing homelessness and housing instability and allow us to provide data-driven policy recommendations to decision-makers. Learn more about our most recent and current studies underway:
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Our Team
We are public health leaders on a mission to make an impact in California and beyond — while educating the next generation of researchers fighting to prevent and end homelessness. UCSF BHHI houses a diverse team of experts — clinicians, medical anthropologists, communicators, organizational leaders, sociologists, policy specialists, statisticians, and researchers — who are dedicated and passionate about preventing and ending homelessness. Our team includes those who have been impacted by homelessness personally, whether through their own lived experience or a family member’s. We value the importance of including people with lived experience as a key part of the work
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Policy and Practice Advisory Board
The Policy and Practice Advisory Board was built to inform the policy and implementation component of the CASPEH. This board is composed of representatives from city, state, and national departments working on housing and homelessness, heads of community organizations working directly with or adjacent to the unhoused population, leaders of advocacy organizations, and service providers. We work closely with these advisors to: Interpret survey findings Shape policy recommendations Leverage findings for maximum impact Our Policy and Practice Advisory Board Members Ali Sutton Chief Program Officer Tipping Point Community Bobby Watts Chief Executive Officer National Health Care for the Homeless Council
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Public Voices Fellowship on Homelessness
UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI) in partnership with the The OpEd Project has launched the first ever Public Voices Fellowship on Homelessness. The year-long Fellowship brings a cohort of twenty fellows together to build their skills and capacity to write influential communications in media outlets to help change the narrative about people experiencing homelessness in this country. This program was funded by the California Health Care Foundation and UCSF BHHI. The goal of the Public Voices Fellowship is to dramatically increase the public impact of our nation's top underrepresented thinkers and to ensure their ideas help shape the
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RAP Award for Homelessness and Housing Research
To encourage UCSF research on homelessness and housing, the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI) conducts an annual internal grant cycle through the UCSF Resource Allocation Program (RAP). This BHHI program supports projects focused on research related to housing, homelessness, and health. In addition to funding, BHHI will also support researchers in creating policy briefs to amplify their research findings. Learn more about the UCSF BHHI RAP Award recipients and their projects below. 2023 RAP Award Recipients Evaluating Provision of Harm Reduction Resources via Vending Machines to Veterans who have Experienced Homelessness Tessa Rife-Pennington, PharmD, BCGP, is the Harm Reduction
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Research Areas
UCSF BHHI believes the lived experience of people facing homelessness and housing instability should shape policy decision-making. Using a strategic science approach, we conduct research that allows us to develop robust evidence and scalable solutions for reducing and ending homelessness across the United States. We focus on nine research areas: Health, Vulnerable Populations, Housing & Shelter, Homelessness Prevention, Mitigation, Unsheltered Homelessness, Behavioral Health, Children, Youth and Families, and Aging. UCSF BHHI experts lead many research projects, including NIH-funded research, program evaluations, and epidemiological surveys.
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