4248.0: Tuesday, November 14, 2000 - 4:30 PM

Abstract #12050

An international perspective on homeless: The U.S. vs. Great Britain

Mary Ellen O'Connell, Assistant Secy for Planning & Evaluation, U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services, Center for Housing Policy/Univ. of York, Helsington, York, YO1 5DD, England, 01904 433691, meoc1@york.ac.uk

The presenter will have recently completed a year as an Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy, studying homelessness in Great Britain. Despite the existence of national health care, homeless people in Great Britain are often unable to access care, and have a similar health and behavioral health profile as homeless people in the United States. This session will discuss reasons for these access barriers and strategies being pursued in Great Britain to address them, and present possible implications regarding the role of targeted and mainstream systems in the United States. To frame the discussion, the session also will present differences between the U.S. and Great Britain in their fundamental interpretation of homelessness (e.g., as associated with a disability vs. national economics), and the nature of the solutions they support (e.g., access to housing vs. services)

Learning Objectives: Learning objectives: To recognize and evaluate current policies for serving homeless persons and to identify and describe areas in which new policies and service practices may be appropriate

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA