Summer Intern Project 2: Drivers Of Homelessness

PPIC’s Summer Intern Program provides an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students interested in a public policy career to work in a policy research environment. Intern projects are proposed by PPIC staff members and designed around a specific set of tasks and deliverables that can be accomplished within the term of the internship. Please complete your application by February 9, 2025. We expect to make final selection decisions by mid-April.

Project title: Drivers of Homelessness: Examining local housing, economic, and other factors

Project Directors: Shannon McConville, Sean Cremin

Project Description

California’s homeless population is the largest in the nation and has increased nearly 60% over the past decade. In response, state policymakers have ramped up efforts and investments to combat homelessness. Despite this increased policy focus, there continue to be debates about what is driving the large growth in people experiencing homelessness throughout California. The causes of homelessness are multifactorial and intertwined to be sure. High housing costs and low-income levels clearly play a role. High rates of serious mental health conditions and substance use disorders are prevalent among people experiencing homelessness, as are recent periods of incarceration.

The intern will provide research support to a descriptive analysis that examines the relationships between homelessness and local housing and economic factors, along with measures of incarceration and treatment capacity in California. The analysis will rely on county-level panel data for the period from 2005-2024 based on publicly-available data that capture housing market information (such as fair market rent, vacancy rates, and evictions), local economic factors (including unemployment, employment growth, income, poverty rates, and Supplemental Security Income enrollment), measures of incarceration (prison releases and county jail population), and measures of behavioral health treatment capacity (including psychiatric and chemical dependency treatment beds and substance use treatment providers).

The intern will work with the project leads to identify various county-level data sources. They will assist the project team in assembling and analyzing county-level panel data over a 20-year period. They will help prepare summary statistics describing how different local-level factors have changed over time and how those are correlated with different measures of homelessness. In addition, they will also have an opportunity to explore and delve more deeply in to specific local factors of interest whether related to housing markets, SSI benefit receipt, or behavioral health treatment capacity among others.

Responsibilities

The intern will work with project leaders to:

• Review relevant academic literature and research reports
• Collect and clean publicly-available housing, economic, and behavioral health treatment data sources
• Engage with state agencies and other research organizations to investigate availability of additional data
• Assist analyzing county-level panel data to examine correlates of homelessness
• Create written summaries of findings

The intern may also contribute to a related blog post. The intern will be a member of the Safety Net policy group.

Qualifications

The intern for this project should possess:

• Training in economics, political science, public health, public policy, sociology, or urban planning or related field
• Experience using statistical analysis software packages like Stata or R
• Strong research and communication skills
• Ability to work independently, handle feedback well, and change direction when necessary
• Interest in California health, criminal justice and/or housing policy

The Research Environment

Interns are offered the opportunity to participate in the collegial atmosphere of PPIC through daily interaction with all aspects of the institute. They are invited to join the staff in their regular meetings and to attend PPIC’s outside events, including the institute’s public affairs programs and research briefings. PPIC offers access to the Institute of Governmental Sciences library at the University of California, Berkeley, allowing interns to work with many important databases, journals, and statistical datasets. The intern program also includes a discussion of California state policy by PPIC’s government affairs staff.

Each intern’s project will include an initial meeting with research staff, and towards the end of the project, a briefing by the intern on the goals, findings, and significance of the project. In 2025, the following dates are expected to be in-person for all interns:

• • Tuesday, June 17, 2025: Internship kickoff in San Francisco
  • Wednesday, June 25, 2025: Capitol tour in Sacramento
  • Friday, August 22, 2025: Final presentations in San Francisco

Interns are encouraged to discuss their work throughout the course of the project, to meet with research staff to discuss careers in research, and to meet with communications staff to learn about outreach and building an audience of policymakers.

Location, Compensation, and Time on Project

The 2025 intern program will be conducted via hybrid or remote setup; the details of the setup will be arranged with the intern’s supervisor. Interns will need to be based in California while working on a PPIC project.

Compensation is $23 per hour. This full-time internship will last up to eleven weeks, ideally beginning June 16, 2025.

To Apply

As part of completing this application, submit your cover letter highlighting the particular skills you bring to the project and describing how this internship would contribute to your career development, and attach your resume as PDF or Word file.

Equal Employer Opportunity (EEO) statement:

PPIC celebrates diversity and is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building a team that represents the backgrounds, perspectives, identities, and skills of California. No matter who you are, we invite you to apply for this role.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer