Framing the Issue: An Introduction

This volume summarizes and expands on the extant literature on three intersecting areas to care for and empower homeless persons: the social/political/economic concerns, the commonly associated psychiatric and substance use disorders, and the frequent acute and chronic medical problems. It is written mainly to be of help to primary care and mental health providers, clinicians in the emergency department, acute medical and psychiatric hospital units, social service agencies, and to a lesser extent policy makers. Many primary care practitioners work in clinics that serve the homeless; and while familiar with the acute medical and psychiatric problems, the importance of addressing housing needs, and how to go about doing so, may be less known.