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Health Center Essentials

PThA2 - Ensuring Access to Care for Unsheltered People

Thursday, February 6, 2025
9:30 AM – 10:30 AM ET
Location: UDC/Catholic (M1)
Knowledge Level: Basic
CPE: 1.2
CME: 1.0
CE: 1.0
CEU: 1.0
Session Description: In communities across the United States, there is a growing gap between unaffordable rents, stagnant incomes, a severe shortage of affordable housing, and insufficient emergency shelter capacity. The number of people experiencing homelessness grew by 12% in 2023, with 653,100 people living without housing on a single night.

Join this session to hear from leaders about potential changes that may impact access to care for people experiencing homelessness. This includes changes around permanent and supportive housing, medical respite care, Medicaid waiver programs, harm mitigation, street outreach and medicine, sanctioned encampments, immigration, and more. The panel will also discuss the continued impact of the Supreme Court’s Johnson vs. Grants Pass decision, which ruled in favor of upholding local ordinances regulating camping on public property and led to local governments to ban unhoused people in public spaces.

Learning Objectives:

  • Provide an overview of the current proposals – including an update on Supreme Court's "Johnson vs. Grants Pass" decision – and discuss potential impact on unsheltered communities.
  • Highlight strategies health centers and Primary Care Associations can pursue to ensure that unsheltered populations maintain access to health care.
  • Describe service approaches that health centers can adopt to provide health care, social services, and support for unsheltered communities.