Transforming practices into models: paths towards a Health Care Network for the Homeless Population

The Homeless Population (HP) has grown exponentially in the last decade, causing different challenges for the Brazilian Unified Health System, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional, descriptive, and exploratory study, with triangulated quantitative and qualitative methods, was conducted from 2020 to 2022, exploring care practices geared to the HP in Belo Horizonte. The quantitative stage adopted official datasets from the health and social assistance secretariats, and 48 semi-structured interviews and four focus groups were conducted in the qualitative stage, totaling 86 participants. The results point to the need for implementing a polyarchic and multidisciplinary Healthcare Network (RAS-PSR) with intersectoral support, guided care territorialization and longitudinality integrated with information systems to address the complex approach and based on the logic of the expanded clinic. Updating HP records in health systems and qualifying services is needed to achieve RAS-PSR efficacy. Understanding the dynamics of actions developed or broadened by the municipality and lessons learned locally can assist the development of effective social care and health policies that can be upscaled to the national level.