Under the Safety Net: The Health and Social Welfare of the Homeless in the United States

Under the Safety Net is a searing call to action for every citizen. America is not America unless we work together to do what it takes to end the worsening crisis of homelessness in our affluent society. ―Senator Edward Kennedy

This book records the many lessons learned from a truly extraordinary national experiment. The Health Care for the Homeless Program mobilized forces in nineteen big cities to reach out and bring critically needed services to homeless persons. Because of extraordinary commitment and energy of all those in nineteen cities who rose to the challenge and because of the hard work of new partners (such as Comic Relief) picked up along the way, these goals have, in the main, been realized. At the same time the very existence of the Health Care for the Homeless Program reflects the major failure or our nation’s health care system, the failure to provide basic health coverage to more than thirty-five million of our citizens.

Linda Keen Scharer received her master’s degree in urban planning from New York University. She is presently assistant director of the Department of Community Medicine at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center of New York. In addition to her work with the homeless, Ms. Scharer has written extensively on home health care issues and serves on the editorial board of the PRIDE Institute’s Journal of Long-Term Home Health Care.

Barbara A. Conanan is director of the SRO/Homeless Program within the Department of Community Medicine at St. Vincent Hospital and Medical Center of New York. She has served in this capacity since January 1983. In addition, Ms. Conanan gives direct patient care as a community health nurse. Prior to her employment at St. Vincent’s, she worked at the Manhattan Bowery Corporation as supervisor in an outpatient clinic that provided services to chronic alcoholics.