ABSTRACT
Individuals with mental illness who are street dwelling present several public policy and service dilemmas. Their rejection of traditional services, coupled with their difficulty in gaining access to many desired resources, makes engaging and serving this group particularly challenging. While increased government funds may be used to improve availability of services, innovative service delivery strategies are also required. For three years, our research group has been involved in imp1ementing and intensively studying an experimental program that was designed to test several propositions regarding how best to deliver services to this group. The rationale for the program reflected our experience, our understanding of the literature, and our analysis of the shortcomings in the existing service system in New York City.
