Skip to Main Content

Homelessness Research Resources

A repository for the USC Initiative to Eliminate Homelessness

Access

Select the images to be directed to the center/institute's website. 

Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement

The Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement equips faith leaders to transform underserved communities. Through capacity building and consultative services, the center helps leaders and their organizations become full partners in social change through community development and civic engagement work.

Center for Artificial Intelligence for Society

Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society    

The primary goal of the USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society is to share our ideas about how AI can be used to tackle the most difficult societal problems. We believe that this agenda can best be tackled by a genuine partnership between AI and social work. 

In October 2013, the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and the Viterbi School of Engineering hosted an event for faculty in social work who were interested in technology and faculty in engineering who were interested in social problems. 

Center for Economic and Social Research

Image result for center for economic and social research

CESR is a center within the USC Dana and David Dornsife School of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. Our research taps into the breadth and depth of disciplines at USC, even as we contribute to its stellar reputation as a powerhouse research university. 

We focus unsparing attention on economic and health disparities, social inequality, the needs of children, families and older Americans. Our research explores the impact of social services and public policy, shifting population trends and their implications, and how human behavior -- our attitudes, actions, and ability to make decisions -- affects our well-being now and as we age.

Center for Religion and Civic Culture

The USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement’s mission is to equip faith leaders to transform underserved communities. The Murray Center provides leaders in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods in Southern California with capacity building and consultative services, so that faith communities can become full partners in social change.

Change Making Media Lab

The Change Making Media Lab (CMML) mission is to foster positive social and environmental change by promoting research on effective media techniques and creating strategic high-impact cinema, television, and multi-media visual imagery to inspire individuals, organizations, and communities into action. CMML’s vision is to engage community members to leverage the power of the cinematic arts to achieve their goals including areas of health, sustainability, and social justice. 

Children Data Network

Children's Data Network

The Children’s Data Network is a data and research collaborative focused on the linkage and analysis of administrative records. In partnership with public agencies, philanthropic funders, and community stakeholders, we seek to generate knowledge and advance evidence-rich policies that will improve the health, safety, and well-being of our children.

D-Health Lab

Research

Solving the complex, wicked health problems requires talented people from various backgrounds to work together. USC researchers, clinicians, scientists, and students collaborate with D-Health partners on interdisciplinary projects to create practical solutions to challenges facing health systems and public health agencies.

Smart and Healthy City Initiative

USC D-Health and the Milken Institute are partnering on a Smart and Healthy City Initiative to focus on improving quality of life and healthcare equality by tackling public health challenges such as homelessness and recidivism. By collaborating with City/County agencies, community based organizations, think-tanks, and technology companies, D-Health is developing solutions to securely utilize sensitive data to inform policy and improve care.  

Data Research Program

D-Health provides USC scientists, researchers, and clinicians with an opportunity to prototype new ideas using health data in a safe environment. D-Health is collaborating with industry partners to develop infrastructure to enable secure health data research.

Community Initiatives

D-Health is creating a thriving healthcare innovation ecosystem in Southern California by bringing together entrepreneurs, clinicians, scientists, healthcare executives, public officials, policymakers, investors, and industry partners. Through a series of events, conferences, and lectures, D-Health facilitates collaborative ideation, design, and the launch of new initiatives.

Hamovitch Research Center

Image result for usc suzanne dworak-peck school of social work

The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services advances science by guiding innovation in human services interventions.

The mission of the Hamovitch Research Center is to support faculty engaged in basic and applied research focused on the needs, behaviors and problems of groups which are vulnerable in society because of their at-risk status, and to study the service delivery systems related to these populations.

Homelessness Policy Research Institute

The newly launched Homelessness Policy Research Institute convenes researchers and policymakers to help design and coordinate timely, relevant, and actionable research to end homelessness in Los Angeles County. The Homelessness Policy Research Institute is a partnership between the USC Price Center for Social Innovation and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles Home for Good Initiative.

Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies

Established to create dialogue, spark ideas, inspire deep thinking, and support important and profound interdisciplinary, interfaith research rooted in the rich Catholic intellectual tradition.

Religions and Homelessness High Level Roundtable

 

Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics

Image result for Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics

The mission of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics is to motivate students to become active in the world of politics and encourage public officials to participate in the daily life of USC.

POSC 395 Research Project: Homelessness in Los Angeles
In the POSC 395 California Policy Research Internship, students work collaboratively with community partners to develop policy solutions to real world challenges.

Joint Educational Project

Image result for usc jep

Understanding Homelessness Through Service

In 2015, the newly appointed USC Provost, Michael Quick, sent an email to the entire USC community. His letter outlined what he calls “wicked problems” -- problems that seem to have no easy solution; solutions that often cause more problems than they hope to solve. One of the “wicked problems” identified by Quick was homelessness in Los Angeles and around the USC community. This spurred an initiative for USC to help end homelessness.

JEP is trying to do our part to be involved in this university wide initiative. Our new program, Understanding Homelessness Through Service, will give USC students a chance to unpack some of the problems faced by people experiencing homelessness and learn more about many of the Los Angeles organizations that are trying to tackle homelessness.

Through this new program., JEP students will have the opportunity to volunteer at schools and nonprofit organizations over 8 weeks, be involved in community events that provide services to the homeless population, go on site visits to nonprofits, and discuss these giant problems with USC peers.

Lusk Real Estate Center

Image result for usc lusk center for real estate

The USC Lusk Center for Real Estate seeks to advance real estate knowledge, inform business practice, and address timely issues that affect the real estate industry, the urban economy, and public policy.

The Lusk Center produces relevant real estate research, supports educational programs, and convenes professional forums that bring together academics, students, business executives, and community leaders.

Media Institute for Social Change

Image result for media institute for social change

The Media Institute for Social Change (MISC) is a non-profit, Emmy Award winning organization focused on promoting the use of media for positive social change through content creation, scholarships, education and research to present and future media content creators. 

MISC aims to be a leader in advancing thought, discussion, and experimentation of how various forms of media can be utilized most effectively to influence maximum social impact. 

Price Center for Social Innovation

Image result for sol price center for social innovation

In November 2011, Price Philanthropies made an extraordinary $50 million gift to the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy to honor the life and legacy of Sol Price, founder of Price Club. This gift also launched the USC Price Center for Social Innovation. The gift reflected a remarkable alignment between Sol Price’s life and legacy, the Price School's mission, and the work of the Price Center for Social Innovation. 

Pulias Center for Higher Education

Image result for rossier school of education

Image result for usc pullias center

With a generous bequest from the Pullias Family estate, the Earl and Pauline Pullias Center for Higher Education at the USC Rossier School of Education has been established (the center was previously known as the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis). The gift allows one of the world’s leading research centers on higher education to continue its tradition of focusing on research, policy, and practice to improve the field.

Dr. Earl V. Pullias was one of the founding faculty of USC’s department of higher education in 1957. He was the author of more than 100 research articles, primarily focused on philosophical issues in higher education, and the author and co-author of numerous books.

Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics

The Sak Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics is a think tank founded to foster interdisciplinary and collaborative research among scholars and policymakers around issues of mental illness and mental health.  As a research institute, the goal is to study issues at the intersection of law, mental health, and ethics as well as influence policy reform and advocacy actions for improved treatment of people with mental illness.  Ultimately, an interdisciplinary approach to these important issues will promote a society of well-rounded persons who work with deep satisfaction and integrity and enjoy a clear mind. 

Schaeffer Center

The mission of the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics is to measurably improve value in health through evidence-based policy solutions, research and educational excellence, and private and public sector engagement. With its extraordinary breadth and depth of expertise, the Schaeffer Center will have a vital impact on the transformation of healthcare. 

Led by Dana Goldman, Distinguished Professor and Leonard D. Schaeffer Director's Chair at USC, the Center was established in 2009 through a generous gift from Leonard and Pamela Schaeffer. The Center is housed within both the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and School of Pharmacy, bringing together health policy experts from the Price School, a seasoned pharmacoeconomics team from the School of Pharmacy, and other affiliated faculty and scholars from across USC and other distinguished universities. 

Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy

The issue of homelessness and housing are top of mind for likely California voters leading into the March 3 Primary Election, according to a new statewide poll conducted by the USC Price School of Public Policy and the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy. In an open-ended unaided question, respondents put homelessness or housing as their top issue (22.9%), followed by climate change (14.8%) and immigration (9.2%).

The USC Price – USC Schwarzenegger Institute Poll on Homelessness in California

Spatial Sciences Institute

USC Spatial Sciences Institute

The Spacial Sciences Institute collaborates with a cross-cutting array of researchers, businesses, non-profits, NGOs, and other entities from a wide range of disciplines and industries to analyze, model, and visualize location-based data.