> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.coios.me/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Housing for homeless Californians with opioid use disorder modelled at $31,083 per QALY
- URL: https://www.coios.me/housing-for-homeless-californians-with-opioid-use-disorder/
- Published: 2026-10-23T13:10:54.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T16:58:54.000Z
- Description: A lifetime microsimulation of 18,928 Californians experiencing homelessness with opioid use disorder gave $31,083 per quality-adjusted life-year from expanding housing access.
- Author: Daniel Ryan
- Tags: Data, models and systems, Value in health, Alcohol and drug use, United States, #preprint, #new, #item, #source-2026-10, #score-70

The study modelled health and economic effects of expanding housing access in California. The cohort was the estimated 18,928 people experiencing homelessness with opioid use disorder. An individual-level microsimulation ran over a lifetime horizon. Increases in permanent housing and shelter places were set to Los Angeles County's Measure A goals. Costs covered both housing and healthcare, and the Housing First approach required neither treatment nor abstinence. Expanding housing raised mean age at death by 0.34 years and averted 39 fatal overdoses. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $31,083 per quality-adjusted life-year gained, below conventional willingness-to-pay thresholds. The findings rest on modelled parameters rather than observed outcomes.

*Why it is interesting: Housing is costed here as a health intervention and comes in below usual willingness-to-pay thresholds. Opioid overdose deaths and cost per quality-adjusted life-year are assessed in a single model.*

Source

[medRxiv, 19 October 2026](https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.15.26365505?ref=coios.me)

Paper

Cost-Effectiveness of Expanding Housing Access for People Experiencing Homelessness and Opioid Use Disorder in California

Authors

Ling Y, Tsung S, Alarid-Escudero F, Goldhaber-Fiebert JD, Brandeau ML, Reitsma MB

DOI

10.64898/2026.10.15.26365505

Type

Preprint

Design

Lifetime individual-level microsimulation cost-effectiveness analysis of a modelled cohort of 18,928 people experiencing homelessness with opioid use disorder in California

Verdict

New finding

Driver

[Value in health](https://www.coios.me/d-health-economics/)

Driver

[Alcohol and drug use](https://www.coios.me/d-alcohol-drugs/)