Key Concepts & Research Guide for Homelessness Capstone Projects in High School

Hi Gary! It’s great to meet you. Choosing homelessness in Oakland for your capstone project is a deeply important and relevant choice. Oakland has unique challenges and community-driven solutions that make for a fascinating research project.

To help you get started, I’ve outlined the foundational concepts, root causes, and specific data points you should investigate to build a high-level, academic project.

1. Key Concepts to Understand

Before diving into the data, you need to understand the "language" used by policymakers and social workers.

• Point-in-Time (PIT) Count: This is the biennial (every two years) count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night. It is the gold standard for data, though it is often considered an undercount.
• Sheltered vs. Unsheltered: "Sheltered" refers to those in emergency shelters or transitional housing. "Unsheltered" refers to those living on the streets, in cars, or in encampments (which are very prevalent in Oakland).
• Housing First Model: A policy approach that prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness as quickly as possible, without preconditions (like sobriety), providing supportive services afterward.
• Gentrification and Displacement: In the context of Oakland, this refers to the process where rising property values lead to the displacement of long-term, lower-income residents, often contributing to homelessness.
• Chronic Homelessness: Defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as someone with a disability who has been homeless for at least a year or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the last three years.

2. Why do people experience homelessness?

Homelessness is rarely the result of a single "choice." It is usually the intersection of systemic failures and individual crises.

• The Rent-to-Income Gap: This is the primary driver in the Bay Area. When housing costs rise faster than wages, any minor financial shock (a car repair, a medical bill) can lead to eviction.
• Systemic Inequality: In Oakland, you will find that homelessness disproportionately affects the Black community due to historical redlining, hiring discrimination, and unequal access to healthcare.
• Lack of Mental Health and Addiction Services: While not the cause for everyone, the closure of long-term care facilities and the lack of affordable outpatient care make it difficult for vulnerable individuals to remain housed.
• Loss of Support Networks: Often, homelessness occurs when someone’s "social safety net" (family or friends they can stay with) is also living in poverty and cannot support another person.

3. Facts and Data to Look For

To make your capstone project rigorous, you should look for the following specific data points:

• The "Everyone Home" Reports: Look for the Alameda County Homeless Point-in-Time Count & Survey. This is the most specific data available for Oakland.
• Demographic Breakdown: Look for the percentage of the homeless population that is Black vs. the percentage of the total Oakland population that is Black. This highlights systemic disparity.
• The "Rent Burden": Look for data on how many Oakland residents are "severely rent-burdened," meaning they spend more than 50% of their income on rent.
  • The formula for Rent Burden is: Rent Burden % =(Monthly Rent / Monthly Gross Income)×100
• Inflow vs. Outflow: Look for data on how many people are being housed each month versus how many people are becoming homeless for the first time. (In Oakland, the "inflow" often exceeds the "outflow").

Research Framework & Resource Guide

Here is a ready-to-use guide to help you organize your research and find credible sources.

Practical Next Steps for Your Project:

1. Contact Local Experts: Reach out to organizations like St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County or The Village in Oakland for an interview.
2. Field Observation: (Safety first!) Visit a sanctioned encampment or a local shelter to observe the infrastructure provided by the city.
3. Synthesize: Use the data to argue whether homelessness in Oakland is primarily an "inventory problem" (not enough houses) or a "service problem" (not enough mental health support).

Pro Tip for your Presentation: If you need to create a professional slideshow for your capstone defense, I recommend using Alayna’s AI Slides Generator for Google Slides. It can help you take these data points and turn them into a visually compelling presentation. You can install it from the Google Workspace Marketplace and use it directly within Google Slides via Extensions → Alayna AI for Google Slides™.

Good luck with your research, Gary! Let me know if you need help drafting a specific section of your paper or creating a bibliography.