More Californians have fallen into homelessness, and more have died while unhoused. However, the state’s ability to track these deaths and assess the scope of the problem hasn’t kept pace. In 2022, California added a field to death records for homeless status. The data is essential to assess the state's public health interventions and shape decisions. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "One of the problems with not reporting it is that it makes it harder to act."

In this op-ed, Claudine Sipili, one of the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness Lived Expertise Advisory Board co-chairs, highlights the need for compassion and innovation to the growing homelessness crisis. She outlines the devastating impact of criminalizing homelessness and the need to focus on evidence-based solutions that prioritize the well-being and dignity of people experiencing homelessness. "Addressing the homelessness crisis requires a balanced and comprehensive approach that combines short-term relief with long-term solutions. While shelters and temporary assistance can help meet immediate needs, they must be coupled with efforts to expand affordable housing, decriminalize homelessness, and address the structural inequalities that perpetuate poverty." Ms. Sipili writes. This op-ed was published as part of the Public Voices Fellowship in partnership with The OpEd Project and funding from the California Health Care Foundation.

In this op-ed, Zena Dhatt, a Qualitative Research Project Manager at the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, calls for action to expand loan forgiveness. She outlines the struggles students face, from the high-interest rates to parents also taking out loans. Ms. Dhatt also calls for addressing the root cause of the cost of higher education. "It is urgent to stop imposing unmanageable loans on those who choose education and to encourage those to seek higher education without fear of a significant debt burden, and one that perpetuates disparity." writes Ms. Dhatt. This op-ed was published as part of the Public Voices Fellowship in partnership with The OpEd Project and funding from the California Health Care Foundation.

About 130,000 Montanans have lost Medicaid coverage as the state re-evaluates everyone's eligibility following a federally mandated pause in disenrollment that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. People experiencing homelessness may not have the resources to fill out the paperwork and being without health coverage can be risky. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "Being out of your asthma medicine for three days can be life threatening."

The number of people experiencing homelessness who are older than 50 is increasing. The second half of the baby boomers were aging and came of age during back-to-back economic downturns, making them financially less secure. Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, said, "These are people who worked their whole lives. They had typical lives, often working physically demanding jobs, and never made enough to put money away."

Veteran homelessness has dropped about 55% in the United States, while it has remained relatively stagnant amongst the general population. The US government has reached a consensus and has offered a wide range of programs to limit homelessness or factors that put people at risk for experiencing homelessness. The VA’s Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF), the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program are the foundation to the efforts. Margot Kushel, MD, a professor of medicine and director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF, said "I think it gives us a blueprint of exactly what we need to do."

For unhoused people living in areas impacted by wildfire smoke, “The choice is being in a congregate shelter or being outside, and [with] COVID it's pretty clear that it's safer to be outside than to be in a congregate shelter," said Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. "For people who are outside, it's just worsened their already precarious health situation."

This article reports on how state spending on homelessness in California will be allocated to creating more living spaces and how Caltrans plans to address encampments. “Spending state money on harassing people who are struggling under the impacts of local, state, and federal policy failures is counterproductive,” said Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, of clearing encampments.

A new shallow subsidy program in Oakland will cover a portion of rent for extremely low-income households. While giving 200 families monthly subsidies is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the need, it could encourage more programs like it, said Margot Kushel, MD, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, who will analyze whether the program prevented people from losing their housing. A night at a shelter, with no support services attached, could cost about $100 a night, or $3,000 a month, Dr. Kushel said, versus $700 a month spent in this pilot to keep them housed.

What does it mean to be working, but still homeless? BHHI Director Dr. Margot Kushel joined Brian Goldstone on KQED Forum to discuss hidden homelessness and what needs to change.

In this op-ed, Alma Yates, MSW, the Education Program Manager at the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, implores world leaders to do more in helping migrants and asylum seekers. She highlights her own story as a former refugee from Bosnia and Herzegovina who relocated to the United States following the Bosnian War. "Thousands of displaced people were living here, mostly elderly, women and children from Prijedor. The conditions were horrific" Ms. Yates writes. "I was able to leave this place to continue my long migration journey, which had its own twists and turns, but, unfortunately, thousands of others had no place to go." This op-ed was published as part of the Public Voices Fellowship in partnership with The OpEd Project and funding from the California Health Care Foundation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic youth experiencing homelessness (YEH) were disproportionately impacted; there were common upstream factors, including racism, homophobia, poverty, and structural violence that place youth at risk for homelessness and exposure to SARS-CoV-2. Public health guidelines overlooked YEH. In this commentary, researchers discuss practical strategies to address the unique health and social needs of YEH.