Analysis: Sweeps of homeless encampments are thwarting Medicaid’s goals

Tossed Medicine, Delayed Housing: How Homeless Sweeps Are Thwarting Medicaid’s Goals - KFF Health News As California cities crack down on homeless encampments in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling authorizing fines and arrests, front-line workers say such sweeps are undercutting billions in state and federal Medicaid spending meant to stabilize people’s health and get them off the streets. khnkit KFF Health News

... California, the epicenter of the U.S. homelessness crisis, is cracking down on people living outside like never before, taking an aggressive new stance to dismantling and clearing homeless encampments in the wake of a watershed U.S. Supreme Court ruling in late June that makes it easier for government agencies to fine and arrest people for living on streets and sidewalks, in broken-down vehicles, or within public parks — even if there is no shelter or housing available. From San Francisco to Los Angeles, communities are launching cleanup operations, ratcheting up enforcement of existing anticamping laws, and, in some places, passing new laws to try to prevent people from living outdoors.

On the ground, health care experts and homeless service providers say the law enforcement crackdown is undercutting taxpayer investments in evidence-based treatment and housing services that are being deployed by cities and states around the nation as politicians look to the health care system to aggressively move people off the streets.

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