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.