The San Francisco Peninsula Children’s Health Project (SFPCHP) provides comprehensive medical care to unstably housed and uninsured adolescents ages 12-25.

Although there are many affluent communities in Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Francisco counties, the number of youth experiencing homelessness remains high: an estimated 1,155 in Santa Clara County, 283 in San Mateo, 1,073 in San Francisco during 2022. Many of these young people are in crisis and their prospects for having stable shelter has decreased, as the cost of housing has soared in this area and jobs for young people with minimal skills are increasingly difficult to find.

Of the patients served by SFPCHP, 40% are experiencing homelessness, or are displaced, or unstably housed. Because SFPCHP targets uninsured adolescents, 50% of patients it sees are uninsured. These young people have multiple and complex medical, and psychosocial issues, including malnutrition, missed immunizations, poly-substance abuse, depression, and anxiety disorders.

These conditions are worsened due to a lack of prevention and early intervention, access to medications, and an inability to access comprehensive health care services.