Mainstreaming Health Care for Homeless People
In the early 1980s, America witnessed the emergence of mass homelessness for the first time since the Great Depression. "Safety net" programs that had been designed to meet the survival needs of poor, elderly and disabled Americans - programs like Medicaid, public housing, and "welfare" - had manifestly failed to meet the needs of those who became homeless. Several factors partially explain this failure: limited eligibility; dramatically reduced program resources resulting from federal budget decisions; enrollment barriers due to bureaucratic complexity and inconsistent eligibility determination procedures; and service delivery systems that were insensitive to the needs of utterly impoverished, transient populations with multiple problems. To purchase this report click here.