HCAI's 2023–2024 analysis found that people experiencing homelessness accounted for 3.0% of all hospital encounters statewide — a wildly disproportionate share given the size of the unhoused population.
Behind that statistic are real human costs: untreated chronic disease, infections that progress untreated until they require admission, and emergency departments used as the only available primary care.
Every street medicine encounter that catches a wound, refills a medication, or restarts a treatment plan is one less avoidable hospital encounter — and one more chance for someone to actually get better.