UCSF Benioff Homelessness & Housing Initiative

??In CA, 78% of people experiencing homelessness live unsheltered, facing severe health risks and violence.? Today, we released a brief and two resources to help communities across the nation resolve this crisis: ?? Most unsheltered Californians (72%) are people of color, highlighting the role structural #racism plays in the #homelessness crisis and the need to ensure outreach, shelter, and housing services are culturally geared toward people of color. ?? We can solve unsheltered homelessness with a robust blend of prevention, evidence-based encampment resolution strategies, and more accessible temporary shelter and permanent housing options. ??? Alongside our new brief, we’ve developed the Encampment Resolution Guide & Prioritization Tool to help communities transition encampment residents to stable housing. Click the link below to access the topic brief and accompanying tools: https://lnkd.in/gpdFP738 Authors: Margot Kushel MD; Marc Dones; Marisa Espinoza, MPA; Eve Perry, MPP. #endhomelessness #healthequity

“I would rather live in a place that spent its money on allowing people to live in community with choice and autonomy over their lives,” says Dr. Margot Kushel MD, of the sizable investments required to counteract decades of starved funding for low-income housing and social services. “In some ways, it’s an eye-popping dollar amount,” Dr. Kushel tells Liam Dillon and Doug Smith for the Los Angeles Times. “In other ways, it doesn’t seem that eye-popping to me for the scale of the problem.” https://lnkd.in/gVCRg2xF

A new study in?JAMA Internal Medicine?from our #CAHomelessnessStudy sheds light on the alarming rates of violence faced by people experiencing homelessness.?Anita Hargrave MD, MAS, Margot Kushel MD, Cheyenne Garcia, Jenna Birkmeyer, Maria Angelica DeGaetano, M.Phil, LL.M. ???Key Findings: ? Over 1 in 3 (38%) experienced violence while homeless, compared to just 1% of the general population. ? Nearly 3 in 4 (74%) faced violence at some point in their lives. ? Risk factors included sleeping outdoors, childhood abuse, and drug use. ???Why It Matters: People experiencing homelessness urgently need safer housing options, trauma-informed care, and long-term violence prevention strategies. ???Take Action: Clinicians should prioritize early detection of violence and provide resources for trauma recovery. Policymakers must invest in noncongregate shelters and supportive housing to break the cycle of violence. ?? Learn more about the findings & recommendations here:https://lnkd.in/gs874NJ8 Read the accompanying editorial:?https://lnkd.in/gqrKDPtx Read more about violence & homelessness:?https://lnkd.in/gbMhA_5V

Ongoing impacts of structural racism place communities of color at increased risk for homelessness. Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted. Our recommendations for addressing racial inequities in homelessness: ?? End economic marginalization ?? Increase affordable housing & prevention ?? Embed equity in homelessness responses ?? Interrupt criminal justice system to homelessness cycle ?? Support #healthequity https://lnkd.in/gEm44RVT #IndigenousPeoplesDay

A quarter of cisgender women living outdoors report experiencing sexual violence. To address this we recommend: ? Enhance violence screening in services ? Expand IPV funding ? Trauma-informed outreach ? Law enforcement training Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gvCZcGDS #DVAM2024

"Until we create the political will to invest in solving homelessness, we need to look directly at the dangers our neighbors without homes face and reject solutions that sweep people out of sight or criminalize behaviors of people merely trying to survive," wrote Dr. Margot Kushel MD in 2022, after attacks in NYC. In 2021, 85 unhoused people were murdered in LA. Recent violence in Oceanside shows it's still happening. Housing ends homelessness and reduces the risk of violence. True community safety means protecting unhoused people from everyday violence, not sweeping people out of sight or criminalizing behaviors of people merely trying to survive. https://lnkd.in/gbMhA_5V

Is your community looking for ways to make real progress in reducing homelessness? ?? Prioritizing housing solutions and systemic reforms over displacement is essential. Check out our new tools for evidence-based encampment resolution, designed to help jurisdictions address encampments amidst the shortage of housing and shelter resources. Download the tools: https://lnkd.in/gn4eUwte

Stay tuned to hear from BHHI Director, Dr. Margot Kushel MD, and BHHI Policy Director, Marc Dones!

How can the Bay Area solve homelessness in a comprehensive way? Join the conversation on October 21st, 6:30pm, at Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland at a FREE screening and Q&A of a new feature doc BEYOND THE BRIDGE: A Solution to Homelessness. Keep your eye out for our very own Policy Director, Marc Dones, who appears in the film! RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/gYMkaBF8 All Home

“We have, right now, a 91% acceptance rate for individuals accepting housing,” Warren said. “So it's really not the case in most cases that people don't want resources, and they don't want housing. They do. Often, it's just that the system has failed them, and they've lost confidence in it.” This stat echoes what we saw in the #CAHomelessnessStudy. Participants desperately wanted housing but everywhere they turned, they came up against barriers: poor credit, no savings, no phone to receive calls, no documents, no transportation, no money for rental applications. We can solve unsheltered homelessness in communities across the nation, with a robust blend of prevention, evidence-based encampment resolution strategies, and more accessible temporary shelter and permanent housing options. Learn how: https://lnkd.in/gn4eUwte https://lnkd.in/g-ty5ve3