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 number of Americans older than 65 will double in the next 40 years, reaching 80 million by 2040. Alongside this growth, many more older adults will need access to affordable and secure housing. UCSF BHHI’s research on aging focuses on California’s older population, the housing supply available to older adults, affordability issues, the connection between housing, health, and public services, and the residential patterns of older homeless adults.

The stress of experiencing homelessness can amplify previous mental illness and trigger anxiety, depression, fear, substance use, and sleeplessness.

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

In the United States, 30% of the homeless population are families with children, and 6% are unaccompanied youth younger than age 25.

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.

The link between health and homelessness may frequently be overlooked. Homelessness worsens health, with homeless individuals in their 50s experiencing the same health concerns as their housed counterparts in their 70s and 80s. With medical care, recovery, and healing made more difficult by homelessness, it’s clear that housing is health care.

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

Prevention means stopping someone from becoming homeless in the first place. Homelessness prevention must include broader structural reforms addressing the drivers of homelessness, not only interventions targeted at individuals.

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

Housing instability is one of the most pressing policy issues in the United States currently, with traditional policy levers failing to create the change needed to provide affordable, safe housing for all populations. UCSF BHHI conducts wide-ranging research into housing and shelter through a strategic science and lived experience approach, collaborating with communities to pilot and test new practices. We bring them to scale while acting as a bridge between the methods to foster lasting, positive change.

The solution to homelessness is housing. Rehousing interventions to quickly connect people to housing and necessary services can help prevent and end homelessness. UCSF BHHI establishes evidence-based strategies and interventions to mitigate homelessness and housing instability. Our solutions address structural barriers that negatively impact the prevention and exiting of homelessness.

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

On any given night, more than half a million Americans are homeless; 58% of those experiencing homelessness are unsheltered.

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.