Across the U.S., there are dramatic disparities in homelessness rates among cities. Los Angeles, for instance, has a homeless population exceeding 75,000 —approximately 775 individuals for every 100,000 residents. In stark contrast, Raleigh, North Carolina, reports only about 76 homeless individuals per 100,000 people. While most of Los Angeles' homeless population is unsheltered, New York has a similarly large, but sheltered, homeless population. What accounts for these significant differences in how cities address this pressing social issue?Join David Brady, Chair of the Department of Public Policy and Management at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, as he explores this critical question. This inquiry embodies the type of analysis we train our public policy students to undertake. We can view cities as “laboratories” for public policies, allowing us to evaluate “natural experiments” that compare places that have implemented specific policies against those that have not.In this presentation, we will examine homelessness across various U.S. cities and illustrate how public policy analysis can assess the effects of key policies aimed at addressing this complex issue.