About the STATE study

This documentary project was produced with support from the California Health Care Foundation and is intended to serve as a companion piece to the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative’s California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness.

Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the largest study of homelessness in CA, and the largest representative study in the U.S. since the mid-1990s.

To connect with the people who shared their stories for this project, photographer Sam Comen and audio journalist Aaron Schrank visited multiple sites for three days in July and three days in October 2022. They met participants for this documentary project in some of the same locations where the BHHI conducted their research.

With 3,200 structured surveys and 365 in-depth interviews throughout nine counties statewide, the study hopes to inform policies, programs, and perspectives in order to prevent and end homelessness in California.