Seeking clarity in Cali’s homelessness crisis, with Darrell Owens

Hello from the East Bay! 

It’s just Jay this week, chatting with friend of the pod Darrell Owens, a Berkeley-based housing expert. We discuss a new study from the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF on the causes and consequences of homelessness in California. 

In this episode, we ask:  

Can the revelations in this study—or any new evidence, for that matter—finally move the needle on reducing homelessness? 

How do “Housing First” advocates address the desire for immediate solutions to a crisis that has been decades in the making? 

Why are people who are older, disabled, and from certain racial and ethnic groups so vastly overrepresented among the homeless population? 

For more, see: 

* The full UCSF study, Toward a New Understanding: The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness 

* Our previous episode with Darrell, from July 2021: The Fight to End Single Family Zoning and the YIMBY/NIMBY/PHIMBY War

* The book Homelessness Is a Housing Problem, by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern 

* California YIMBY’s December 2022 report on Housing First policies 

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