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Losing Income Chief Cause of Homelessness, UCSF Study Finds

Losing income is the No. 1 reason Californians end up homeless — and the vast majority of them say a subsidy of as little as $300 a month could have kept them off the streets. That’s according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that provides the most comprehensive look yet at California’s homeless crisis.

Published

2 years ago

June 24, 2023

Oakland Post

The study's authors say the findings highlight the idea that money, more than addiction, mental health, poor decisions or other factors, is the main cause of -- and potential solution to -- homelessness.

By Marisa Kendall
CalMatters

Losing income is the No. 1 reason Californians end up homeless — and the vast majority of them say a subsidy of as little as $300 a month could have kept them off the streets.

That’s according to a new study out of UC San Francisco that provides the most comprehensive look yet at California’s homeless crisis.

In the six months prior to becoming homeless, the Californians surveyed were making a median income of just $960 a month. The median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in California is nearly three times that, according to Zillow. And though survey participants listed a myriad of reasons why they lost their homes, more people cited a loss of, or reduction in, income than anything else.

The study’s authors say the findings highlight the idea that money, more than addiction, mental health, poor decisions or other factors, is the main cause of — and potential solution to — homelessness.

“I think it’s really important to note how desperately poor people are, and how much it is their poverty and the high housing costs that are leading to this crisis,” said Margot Kushel, a physician who directs the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, which conducted the study.

Already the study — which the authors say is the most representative homelessness survey conducted in the U.S. since the mid-1990s — has drawn attention from high places.

The initial idea for the survey came from California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly, Kushel said. Ghaly’s office has been involved along the way, though the state didn’t fund the research.

“As we drive toward addressing the health and housing needs of Californian’s experiencing homelessness, this study reinforces the importance of comprehensive and integrated supports,” Ghaly said in a news release. “California is taking bold steps to address unmet needs for physical and behavioral health services, to create a range of housing options that are safe and stable, and to meet people where they are at. We are grateful for the voices of those who participated in this study, as they will help guide our approach.”

The survey comes as local governments press Gov. Gavin Newsom to distribute ongoing funding to fight homelessness, arguing the one-time grants he has doled out so far don’t allow them to make lasting progress. Newsom has resisted that kind of multi-year commitment, although his administration has allocated nearly $21 billion toward homelessness and housing since he took office.

The UCSF team surveyed 3,198 unhoused adults throughout California between October 2021 and November 2022, and conducted in-depth interviews with 365 of those participants.

What drives California’s homeless crisis?

When asked why they left their last home, respondents cited conflict between roommates, not wanting to impose on the person or people they were living with, domestic violence, illness and breakups.

A loss of or reduction in income was the most common response, with 12% of people saying that’s what caused their homelessness. Just 4% blamed their own substance use or drinking.

All of those varied factors that led people to lose their homes often have underlying roots in economic instability, said Jennifer Wolch, a professor emerita at UC Berkeley specializing in homelessness.

“This lack of income and severe instability and housing precarity, it has spillover effects on people’s relationships, their use of alcohol and other kinds of problematic substances,” she said. “It impinges on their health status.”

The story told by one survey participant, identified as Carlos, shows how someone can gradually descend into homelessness. He had to stop working after falling off a ladder and injuring his spine, but wasn’t eligible for workers’ compensation because he had been paid in cash. Unable to afford his rent, he moved out of his apartment and rented a room in a new place. He soon left due to conflicts with his roommates. He then briefly lived with his sister’s family, until they faced COVID-related job loss and he moved out to avoid becoming a burden. He lived in his truck until it was towed due to unpaid parking tickets. Now, he lives in an encampment in a park.

Most of the homeless Californians surveyed said a relatively small amount of cash would have saved them from the street. Seventy percent said a monthly rental subsidy of $300-$500 would have kept them from becoming homeless, while 82% believed a one-time payment of between $5,000 and $10,000 would have worked.

Jennifer Loving, CEO of Santa Clara County nonprofit Destination: Home, hopes the study’s findings will help debunk what she says is a common myth that people are homeless because of their individual failings, rather than because rents are outpacing wages. She’d like to see California’s leaders take notice.

“Hopefully it will inform a statewide strategy,” she said, “because we need a statewide strategy to be able to manage how we are addressing homelessness.”

Another California homeless myth

Another myth the study attempts to dispel is that most homeless people flock to California cities because of warm weather, liberal policies and generous services. In reality, 90% of the people surveyed said they were last housed in California, and 75% live in the same county as where they lost their housing.

That’s important to remember, Wolch said, because it’s easy to disregard unhoused people who we think “aren’t from here” and haven’t paid taxes here.

“People who are homeless are your neighbors,” she said. “People who are homeless live in the same city that you do and they possibly have lived there longer than you have.”

The survey painted a bleak picture of the traumas and tragedies that made survey participants more vulnerable to ending up on the street. People reported growing up in depressed communities with few job opportunities, where they experienced exploitation and discrimination. Nearly three-quarters said they had experienced physical violence during their lives, and one-quarter had experienced sexual violence.

One in three people surveyed attempted suicide at some point.

Mental health and addiction also were a common undercurrent in the lives of many of the unhoused people surveyed, which is to be expected in a population that has suffered so much trauma, according to the researchers. Two-thirds of people reported experiencing mental health symptoms — including depression, anxiety or hallucinations — in the past 30 days. Homelessness and all it entails, including lack of sleep, violence and difficulty accessing medication, exacerbated their symptoms, many people said.

About one-third of people reported using drugs three or more times a week — mostly methamphetamines. And 1 in 5 people who reported regular drug or heavy alcohol use said they wanted addiction treatment but couldn’t get it.

Jail to homelessness pipeline

The study also emphasizes the relationship between incarceration and homelessness, said Alex Visotzky, senior California Policy Fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

More than three-quarters of people surveyed had been incarcerated at some point during their life. And in the six months before becoming homeless, 43% were in jail or prison, or were on probation or parole. The vast majority of those who had been incarcerated received no help signing up for housing, healthcare or benefits upon release.

“That drove home for me this point: Incarceration, homelessness and then subsequent criminalization are fueling a really vicious cycle for marginalized people, especially Black and Latino Californians, that’s both causing and prolonging homelessness,” Visotzky said.

‘We don’t have enough housing for poor folks’

To solve the homelessness crisis, the main problem California needs to address is the lack of housing that’s affordable for extremely low-income residents, according to the researchers. The state has just 24 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Among the solutions the researchers proposed: expanding vouchers that use federal, state and local dollars to subsidize people’s rent. They also suggested piloting shared housing programs where multiple households live together and split costs, while also providing funds to help people remain with or move in with family or friends.

Kushel hopes the study helps drive public support for these ideas, which in turn will spur politicians to act.

“I hope that it really focuses our efforts on housing, which is the only way out of homelessness,” Kushel said. “It’s almost so obvious it’s hard to speak about. We don’t have enough housing for poor folks.”

The study is available at https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/our-studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness.

Copyright © 2023 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area.

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Ann Lowe: The Quiet Genius of American Couture

Lowe was born in Clayton, Alabama, into a family of gifted seamstresses. Her mother and grandmother were well-known dressmakers who created exquisite gowns for women in the area. By the time Lowe was a young girl, she was already showing extraordinary talent — cutting, sewing, and decorating fabric with a skill that far exceeded her age. When her mother died unexpectedly, Lowe – only 16 years old then – took over her mother’s sewing business, completing all the orders herself.

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of National Archives.

By Tamara Shiloh

Ann Cole Lowe, born Dec.14, 1898, was a pioneering American fashion designer whose extraordinary talent shaped some of the most widely recognized and celebrated gowns in U.S. history.

Although she designed dresses for society’s wealthiest families and created masterpieces worn at historic events, Lowe spent much of her life in the shadows — uncredited, underpaid, yet unmatched in skill. Today, she is celebrated as one of the first nationally recognized African American fashion designers and a true visionary in American couture.

In 1917, Lowe moved to New York City to study at the S.T. Taylor Design School. Although she was segregated from White students and forced to work separately, she, of course, excelled, graduating earlier than expected. Her instructors quickly recognized that her abilities were far above the typical student, especially her skill in hand-sewing, applique, and intricate floral embellishment – techniques that would become her signature.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, she designed gowns for high-society women in Florida and New York, operating boutiques and working for prestigious department stores. Her reputation for craftsmanship, originality, and elegance grew increasingly. She was known for creating gowns that moved beautifully, featured delicate hand-made flowers, and looked sculpted rather than sewn. Many wealthy clients specifically requested “an Ann Lowe gown” for weddings, balls, and galas.

Her most famous creation came in 1953: the wedding gown worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy. The dress – crafted from ivory silk taffeta with dozens of tiny, pleated rosettes – became one of the most photographed bridal gowns in American history. Despite this achievement, Lowe received no public credit at the time. When a flood destroyed her completed gowns 10 days before the wedding, she and her seamstresses worked day and night to remake everything – at her own expense. Her dedication and perfectionism never wavered.

She eventually opened “Ann Lowe Originals,” her own salon on New York’s Madison Avenue. She served clients such as the Rockefellers, DuPonts, Vanderbilts, and actresses like Olivia de Havilland. Yet even with her wealthy clientele, she struggled financially, often undercharging because she wanted every dress to be perfect, even if it meant losing money.

Lowe’s contributions were finally recognized later in life. Today, her exquisite gowns are preserved in museums, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In the last five years of her life, Lowe lived with her daughter Ruth in Queens, N.Y. She died at her daughter’s home on Feb. 25, 1981, at the age of 82, after an extended illness.

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2025 in Review: Seven Questions for Black Women’s Think Tank Founder Kellie Todd Griffin

As the president and CEO of the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute, Griffin is on a mission to shift the narrative and outcomes for Black women and girls. She founded the nation’s first Black Women’s Think Tank, securing $5 million in state funding to fuel policy change.

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Kellie Todd Griffin. CBM file photo.

By Edward Henderson
California Black Media

With more than 25 years of experience spanning public affairs, community engagement, strategy, marketing, and communications, Kellie Todd Griffin is recognized across California as a leader who mobilizes people and policy around issues that matter.

Griffin spoke with California Black Media (CBM) about her successes and setbacks in 2025 and her hopes for 2026.

Looking back at 2025, what stands out to you as your most important achievement and why? 

Our greatest achievement in this year is we got an opportunity to honor the work of 35 Black women throughout California who are trailblazing the way for the next generation of leaders.

How did your leadership, efforts and investments as president and CEO California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute contribute to improving the lives of Black Californians? 

We’re training the next leaders. We have been able to train 35 women over a two-year period, and we’re about to start a new cohort of another 30 women. We also have trained over 500 middle and high school girls in leadership, advocacy, and financial literacy.

What frustrated you the most over the last year?

Getting the question, “why.” Why advocate for Black women? Why invest in Black people, Black communities? It’s always constantly having to explain that, although we are aware that there are other populations that are in great need, the quality-of-life indices for Black Californians continue to decrease. Our life expectancies are decreasing. Our unhoused population is increasing. Our health outcomes remain the worst.

We’re not asking anyone to choose one group to prioritize. We are saying, though, in addition to your investments into our immigrant brothers and sisters – or our religious brothers and sisters – we are also asking you to uplift the needs of Black Californians. That way, all of us can move forward together.

What inspired you the most over the last year?

I’ve always been amazed by the joy of Black women in the midst of crisis.

That is really our secret sauce. We don’t let the current state of any issue take our joy from us. It may break us a little bit. We may get tired a little bit. But we find ways to express that – through the arts, through music, through poetry.

What is one lesson you learned in 2025 that will inform your decision-making next year?

Reset. It’s so important not to be sitting still. We have a new administration. We’re seeing data showing that Black women have the largest unemployment rate. We’ve lost so many jobs. We can have rest – we can be restful – but we have to continue the resistance.

In one word, what is the biggest challenge Black Californians faced in 2025?

Motivation.

I choose motivation because of the tiredness. What is going to motivate us to be involved in 2026?

What is the goal you want to achieve most in 2026?

I want to get Black Californians in spaces and places of power and influence – as well as opportunities to thrive economically, socially, and physically.

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BRIDGE Housing President and CEO Ken Lombard Scores Top Honors for Affordable Housing Leadership

The Development Company of the Year honor represents a milestone for BRIDGE Housing, which received the Gold award—its top designation—in a category that included both affordable and market-rate developers. The recognition caps what has been one of the strongest growth periods in the organization’s 42-year history.

Published

5 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

BRIDGE Housing President and CEO Ken Lombard. Courtesy of BRIDGE Housing.

By the Oakland Post Staff

San Francisco-based BRIDGE Housing and its president and CEO, Ken Lombard, have been named among the nation’s housing industry standouts, earning two of the top prizes at the 2025 Multi-Housing News Excellence Awards.

BRIDGE Housing was named Development Company of the Year, while Lombard received Executive of the Year, recognition that places the nonprofit affordable housing provider alongside leading national developers of both affordable and market-rate housing.

The awards were announced in New York for the accomplishments achieved during 2024.

Multi-Housing News is one of the industry’s most respected publications. Award winners are selected by a panel of housing professionals, including multifamily developers, architects, and owners.

“BRIDGE Housing is deeply honored to be recognized by Multi-Housing News and our industry peers,” Lombard said. “These awards are a testament to the high-impact, mission-driven work by BRIDGE’s exceptional team to deliver quality affordable housing and support services that empower residents to improve their lives.”

In 2024, BRIDGE significantly expanded its footprint across California, Oregon, and Washington. That momentum continued into 2025, with portfolio growth of 9%, including the addition of nine new communities and 1,187 new or acquired affordable housing units. The nonprofit also added three new projects to its development pipeline as it nears a portfolio of 16,000 units.

The growth reflects a broader strategy aimed at accelerating both acquisitions and ground-up development, supported by partnerships with major financial institutions and innovative capital markets strategies. BRIDGE has also emphasized high-quality design and deep community engagement as central elements of its approach.

BRIDGE became the first affordable housing developer to issue tax-exempt construction bonds for one of the largest affordable housing projects in Portland, Ore., leveraging its strong credit rating.

Earlier this year, the nonprofit launched the BRIDGE Housing Impact Fund, with a goal of investing $1 billion to preserve and create affordable housing. It also closed on $175 million in taxable general-obligation bonds after increasing the offering in response to strong investor demand.

The company’s performance also underscores the role of Lombard, who has led BRIDGE since 2021 and was honored individually for his leadership.

Under Lombard’s tenure, BRIDGE has built a new leadership team with experience drawn from both the nonprofit and private sectors, with a particular focus on what the organization describes as efforts to “break the status quo,” especially in affordable housing finance. Those initiatives have helped reduce capital and construction costs, strengthen relationships with institutional investors, and expand resident support services.

Today, BRIDGE Housing serves more than 33,000 residents across 139 communities on the West Coast.

“Ken has dedicated his career to innovative real estate solutions that improve the quality of life in underserved neighborhoods,” said Kenneth Novack, chair of BRIDGE Housing’s board of directors. “His visionary leadership and the work of our incredible team have positioned BRIDGE for long-term growth that will extend our impact throughout the West Coast.”

Founded in 1983, BRIDGE Housing has helped create more than 23,000 affordable homes with a total development cost of $6 billion.