About This Event
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CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal) is the state’s five-year initiative to improve Medi-Cal. As part of CalAIM, Medi-Cal managed care plans can choose to provide one or more of 14 Community Supports to address members’ health-related social needs. Three of these Community Supports are crucially important to people experiencing homelessness: housing transition and navigation services, housing deposits, and housing tenancy and sustaining services. They are collectively known as the housing trio.
Multiple studies show that tenancy-sustaining, housing navigation, and outreach and engagement services significantly improve the stability of people after they become housed.
Other research shows that the provision of affordable housing decreased Medicaid expenditures (PDF) by 12%.
On March 12, CHCF held a briefing about these supports and their importance for helping people move from homelessness to housing. The briefing began with an overview of how homelessness impacts a person’s health by Margot Kushel, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at UCSF. She drew from the landmark California Statewide Survey of People Experiencing Homelessness.
Following the presentation, Michelle Schneidermann, MD, director of people-centered care at CHCF, moderated a discussion about the role Medi-Cal is playing in California’s homelessness response and how that role can be strengthened and improved through critical partnerships across the health, homelessness, and housing sectors.
This event has passed, but you can watch a full recording of the discussion on YouTube.
Panelists included:
- Susan Philip, MPP, Deputy Director of Health Care Delivery Systems, California Department of Health Care Services
- Dhakshike Wickrema, MCP, Deputy Secretary of Homelessness, California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
- Cheryl Winter, MPH, LCSW, Associate Director, California State Policy, CSH (Corporation for Supportive Housing)
- Margot Kushel, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, UCSF
Additional Resources
To further explore the housing Community Supports, please see these additional resources.
CalAIM Housing Community Supports — Policy at a Glance. Get a quick overview of the three housing Community Supports — housing navigation, housing deposits, and housing tenancy and sustaining services in this fact sheet. (Produced by CHCF; available in “All Resources” below.)
ECM and Community Supports County-based fact sheets. See publicly available data about people experiencing homelessness and their engagement in Medi-Cal’s housing-related services, including Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports. A fact sheet is available for each of California’s 44 Continuums of Care (CoCs). Most cover a single county; some cover multiple counties. (Produced by HomeBase)
CalAIM Experiences: Homeless Services Provider Views in Year Three of Reforms. In December 2024, CHCF published a comprehensive statewide survey that captures the on-the-ground realities of providers implementing CalAIM programs. This subsequent report draws from the statewide survey and looks deeply at the experiences of contracted ECM and Community Supports providers working with people experiencing homelessness. (Produced by CHCF)
Housing Developers Leverage CalAIM for People Experiencing Homelessness. CHCF’s Michelle Schneidermann talks with Carolina Reid, faculty research adviser at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation. (CHCF Blog)
The following three resources were produced by Corporation for Supportive Housing and are available in “Downloads & Links” below.
Housing and Homelessness Resources. This short slide deck offers an overview of evidence-based solutions and a high-level view of how the homeless systems assess people’s needs and refer them into housing. (Produced by Corporation for Supportive Housing)
Journey to Housing. See how exceedingly difficult it is to navigate the homelessness response and rehousing system in this four-page visual fact sheet. The first chart shows common steps people with complex needs encounter from the point they fall into homelessness to – months later – preparing to move in to housing. The second chart demonstrates common steps people encounter as they stabilize in their new home. A third chart shares key takeaways. (Produced by Corporation for Supportive Housing)
California’s Response: Facts About Homelessness. This fact sheet provides data on causes of and solutions to homelessness; information on federal, state, and local resources and how these resources intersect; and a glossary of common terminology. (Produced by Corporation for Supportive Housing)