Sunset Park Health Council, Inc. (Lutheran Family Health Centers)

Numbers of homeless in New York City are on the rise.

Barriers to primary health care access for the homeless are severe, extensive, and challenging to resolve. The Community Medicine Program (CMP) of Lutheran Family Health Centers (LFHC) has been approached by the New York City Department of Homeless Services (DHC) to be the on-site medical and behavioral health provider at the Bellevue Men’s Shelter (Bellevue), one of the largest shelters in the New York City system. There is currently no on-site provider at Bellevue, nor has there been for two years, and because of funding cuts, the city does not have the resources to hire an on-site provider to perform much needed services. This project would have allowed LFHC to provide a variety of primary care services for homeless men at Bellevue.

NYHealth originally awarded LFHC a grant of $300,000 to bring the clinic at Bellevue to fully operational status within one year. Unanticipated regulatory changes, however, prevented LFHC from opening the Bellevue clinic as anticipated. As a result, the final grant amount was revised to $14,250 because LFHC was unable to complete its grant activities.