Margot Kushel MD's Avatar

Margot Kushel MD

@mkushel.bsky.social

Physician, researcher. Professor of Medicine at UCSF. Director of @ucsfbhhi.bsky.social and UCSF @arcforhealth.bsky.social. Passionate about ending homelessness. Views my own.

1,661 Followers  |  733 Following  |  160 Posts  |  Joined: 15.11.2024
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Posts by Margot Kushel MD (@mkushel.bsky.social)

A Hampton Inn in Asheville just canceled my family's reservation because our address (incorrectly) showed Ashevilleβ€”and the hotel bars locals within 50 miles.

When I asked why, they said, "because of our homeless population," adding that most hotels here have similar policies.

This is outrageous.

28.12.2025 21:21 β€” πŸ‘ 5980    πŸ” 1481    πŸ’¬ 312    πŸ“Œ 325
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Potential Changes in US Homelessness by Ending Federal Support for Housing First Programs This decision analytical model estimates the change in the number of people experiencing homelessness in a year following termination of federal support for Housing First programs.

What would be the real world impacts of the loss of federal funding for Housing First programs? We modeled it: an additional 44,590 ppl beyond anticipated growth due to economic factors. @jabarocas.bsky.social @kirkfetters.bsky.social @ucsfbhhi.bsky.social url: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

19.12.2025 18:18 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

β€œThere is no place for us” by @brian-goldstone.bsky.social IS one of the must reads of the year.

@nytimes.com & President Obama and many others agree too!

If you haven’t read it yet, please do!

18.12.2025 22:27 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Sending love to all. When will this end? How much is enough?

13.12.2025 23:55 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Webinar: Understanding Health & Homelessness | Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative People experiencing homelessness in California face high rates of chronic illness and disability, and numerous barriers to care. These health challenges make it harder for people to obtain and retain ...

Interested in the overlap between poor health & homelessness-- and how to improve health among people experiencing homelessness> Interested in how health &housing systems should collaborate to end homelessness?

Join us today! Noon PT!

@ucsfbhhi.bsky.social

homelessness.ucsf.edu/calendar/web...

04.12.2025 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Webinar: Understanding Health & Homelessness | Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative People experiencing homelessness in California face high rates of chronic illness and disability, and numerous barriers to care. These health challenges make it harder for people to obtain and retain ...

Interested in the overlap between poor health & homelessness-- and how to improve health among people experiencing homelessness> Interested in how health &housing systems should collaborate to end homelessness?

Join us today! Noon PT!

@ucsfbhhi.bsky.social

homelessness.ucsf.edu/calendar/web...

04.12.2025 17:16 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

The caveats: We recruited older adults who were homeless at any point in their journey, which biases toward those with long-term homelessness. (Had we found people right as they became homeless for the first time, perhaps housing outcomes would be better).
@ucsfbhhi.bsky.social

5/fin

20.11.2025 22:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

β˜‘οΈ The irony: Last week, the Trump administration announced their new policy to dismantle long-term housing supports---which will send many seniors, people with disabilities--back into the streets.
4/5

20.11.2025 22:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

βœ… The take-home: Homelessness is dynamic. People move in and out of housing. Housing Vouchers (for some, PSH, for others, simply a housing voucher) keep people housed.
3/5

20.11.2025 22:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

βœ… The good news: 80% returned to housing (returning to housing with family or friends was the most common)
βœ… The bad news: Half of them returned to homelessness!
βœ… What kept people housed: HOUSING VOUCHERS

2/5

20.11.2025 22:05 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Factors Associated With Exits From and Returns to Homelessness Among Older Homeless Adults: Results From the HOPE HOME Study Homelessness is dynamic; some individuals cycle between homelessness and housing. In a longitudinal study of 411 adults aged 50 and older who were homeless at study enrollment, we examined the prev...

πŸ“’ New paper alert:

We examined long-term housing results among a cohort of older homeless adults.

Full article: Factors Associated With Exits From and Returns to Homelessness Among Older Homeless Adults: Results From the HOPE HOME Study www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
1/5

20.11.2025 22:05 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I’m heartsick to hear that the incomparable Alice Wong has passed. Her loss will be felt keenly, by many, and for a long time. She is a force, a generous leader and storyteller, and an oracle for disabled futures. Much love to Alice and to all our crip kin and comrades. β€οΈβ€πŸ©Ή

15.11.2025 05:47 β€” πŸ‘ 430    πŸ” 100    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 11
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Alice Wong on Instagram: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it ... 423 likes, 73 comments - alicatsamurai on November 14, 2025: "ID: Yellow background with black text "This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the t...

I don’t want to formulate words yet, but my friend Alice Wong, @sfdirewolf.bsky.social of the Disability Visibility Project, has passed.

Here are the words she left behind:
www.instagram.com/p/DREMDNBjnq...

15.11.2025 05:57 β€” πŸ‘ 3660    πŸ” 1417    πŸ’¬ 139    πŸ“Œ 272

First, they came for....We all know how this ends.

/fin

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Don't let this cruel up is down administration trick you into thinking that internment camps are compassionate. Don't let them hijack your frustration into a total abdication of rights. Don't leave those with the least power in internment camps.

7/x

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Yes--we are all frustrated with people left to die on the streets. You know how to fix that? Provide people with the services they need to thrive in the housing they need to end their homelessness.

6/x

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

So why are they cutting the funding for treatment?

The irony of cutting funds for housing---that is actually at the heart of homelessness and replacing it with a camp on the outskirts of town. Out of site, out of mind. There is NO way to end homelessness without housing.

5/x

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The irony of cutting Medicaid--which pays for actual treatment that people need (mental health and substance use services) to drag people out of site, beyond the legal system, with no due process. What "treatment" will they get? YES--people need treatment.
4/x

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

The conflation of homelessness with mental health & substance use problems is a ploy to exploit your frustration and fear. (And yes, there is an enormous overlap, but it is bidirectional). We do KNOW how to treat these disabilities.
3/x

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Couched in the language of compassion, the proposal for relocating people who experience unsheltered homelessness is no different than internment camps of yesteryear. No civil liberties, no choice, no due process. Locked away in a place out of site. To what end?
2/x

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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In Utah, Trump’s Vision for Homelessness Begins to Take Shape

This @nytimes.com piece on the "Vision for Homelessness" in Utah should horrify all people.
This NYTimes piece on the "Vision for Homelessness" in Utah should horrify all people.

1/x 🧡

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/u...

29.10.2025 15:45 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2

Community safety comes from having a healthy democracy, held in check by a free press...

11.10.2025 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Community safety comes from ensuring that everyone can pray to the whomever they want, whenever they want (or not)---and not fear being shot. Community safety comes from allowing everyone to live as their authentic self, loving who they want, how they want.

11.10.2025 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Community safety comes from ensuring that we prevent and control infectious disease. Community safety comes from ensuring that have agency over their reproductive choices. Community safety comes from ensuring that children can go to school without fearing being shot.

11.10.2025 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Community safety comes from ensuring that everyone has a safe and secure place to live. Community safety comes from ensuring that we have well-funded, high functioning schools. Community safety comes from ensuring everyone has access to the healthcare that they need.

11.10.2025 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Always good to spend time with @lisahalverstadt.bsky.social β€” one of the best journalists working on homelessness. #Politifest2025

04.10.2025 21:46 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Thrilled to spend a few days in Ireland with @simoncommunity.bsky.social bringing the American perspectiveβ€”homelessness is solvable. (Don’t fall into the mistakes of the US)!

26.09.2025 10:29 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

In the last day, a Fox news reporter responded to his on air colleague advocating for mass internment of people experiencing homelessness by suggesting instead that someone (the government? Bystanders?) pursue lethal injection of them. (He is, as far as I can tell, still employed).

13.09.2025 20:51 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Let’s fight for a society that actually values people and provides them with the safety and security they need. And let’s call out those who use dehumanizing rhetoric. Even those whose rhetoric and actions fall short of these truly horrific examples.

13.09.2025 20:51 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

No one wants there to be homelessness. Least of all the people who experience it. No one wants people to struggle with the devastating health and social effects of addiction (which is different than just using drugs which many people do, of course). Least of all the people who are suffering from it.

13.09.2025 20:51 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0