Street Medicine Brings Care to Unhoused Angelenos — But Housing Remains the Missing Prescription

October 2, 2026

Street medicine teams in Los Angeles are bringing healthcare directly to unhoused residents who face significant barriers accessing traditional medical facilities due to lack of transportation, phones, identification, and stable housing. Organizations like St. John's Community Health deploy mobile units staffed with nurse practitioners, medical assistants, behavioral health clinicians, and other specialists who treat acute wounds, manage chronic diseases, and help connect patients to housing resources while meeting them where they live on the streets. Although these teams serve around 320 patients monthly and provide critical stabilization care, providers emphasize that street medicine acts as a temporary shield rather than a permanent solution since patients cannot properly store medications or maintain consistent follow-up without stable housing.

Who is affected

Alfred Flores, a 53-year-old man living along the Los Angeles River for three years with infected spider bites
Tanny Hernandez (45) and Benwell Hernandez (35), who spent over three years on the streets and now live in temporary shelter
Rayshawn Whittenburg, a 20-year-old Black woman who spent six months on the streets while pregnant
Teff Ejigu, a 37-year-old political science graduate who lost housing six months ago after a relapse
Approximately 320 patients per month served by St. John's street medicine teams
Black residents of Los Angeles County, who represent about one-third of the 21,822 people experiencing homelessness despite comprising less than 10% of the county population
Latino residents, who make up 23% of street medicine patients
People experiencing homelessness across Los Angeles who lack phones, transportation, identification, or ability to store medications

What action is being taken

St. John's Community Health is deploying two multidisciplinary street medicine units in Los Angeles staffed by nurse practitioners, medical assistants, health benefits counselors, community health workers, behavioral health clinicians, substance abuse counselors, and drivers
The teams work Monday through Friday serving around 320 patients monthly
Street medicine providers are treating acute wounds, managing chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension, conducting field blood draws, dispensing medications, and connecting patients to housing resources through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's Coordinated Entry System
The team is delivering medications directly to patients' doors when they cannot reach pharmacies
Benwell Hernandez is studying to become a peer educator
The City of Inglewood is tracking 600 affordable units in various stages of predevelopment and monitoring about 46 existing density-bonus affordable units
The street medicine team continues to care for the Hernandez couple in their temporary housing through the Inside Safe program

Why it matters

Street medicine addresses critical healthcare gaps for Los Angeles's unhoused population, who face life-threatening barriers to traditional medical care including lack of transportation, phones, identification, and safe medication storage. The program reveals the severity of the homelessness crisis in Southern California, where any economic shock can push vulnerable residents onto the streets when rents are high relative to incomes. The disproportionate impact on Black Angelenos—who represent one-third of the homeless population despite being less than 10% of county residents—highlights how generations of systemic racism, redlining, and exclusion from home ownership have created severe racial health disparities. Street medicine provides essential stabilization that can prevent medical emergencies and deaths, while also challenging harmful misconceptions that homeless individuals are inherently dangerous or primarily struggling with addiction. However, the program's limitations underscore that healthcare alone cannot solve homelessness, as patients without stable housing cannot maintain consistent follow-up care or properly manage chronic conditions, making the shortage of affordable permanent housing the fundamental barrier to breaking the cycle.

What's next

Tanny and Benwell Hernandez are working to secure permanent housing while living in temporary shelter through the Inside Safe program
The street medicine program's grants typically run for three to five years, providing funding stability
The City of Inglewood is tracking 600 affordable units in various stages of predevelopment

Read full article from source: The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint