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County health staff outline evidence for Housing First, supervisors press on scale and treatment
Summary
Alameda County health staff presented evidence and local outcomes for Housing First, including reduced returns to homelessness and high retention in subsidy programs. Supervisors asked whether scale, prevention and treatment investments—or local shelter operations—limit the strategy’s reach.
Jonathan Russell, Alameda County Health’s director for housing and homelessness services, told the Health Committee that Housing First is an evidence‑based, participant‑driven approach that prioritizes moving people into permanent housing quickly and offering voluntary, wraparound services.
"Housing First is first and foremost an evidence based...approach to housing people experiencing homelessness," Russell said, summarizing research produced by UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative and state studies that informed local practice. He cited HUD‑VASH as a national program that pairs vouchers with case management and has yielded sustained reductions in veteran homelessness.
Russell said local outcomes show progress: more than 4,700 people gained housing in the most recent fiscal year the county…
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