Rhode Island's Homeless Bill of Rights

[hvactec]

In recent months, several penny-pinched municipalities have taken a stab at eradicating homelessness by making indigence illegal. Cities from Berkeley to Philadelphia to St. Louis have moved to criminalize "acts of living" like sitting, lying down, or asking for change on the corner. In the face of this nationwide crackdown on transients, Rhode Island has decided to take the high road. Its Assembly just passed the country's first Homeless Bill of Rights, which Governor Lincoln Chafee is expected to sign into law early next week, declaring an equal right to jobs, housing, services, and public space for all inhabitants, whether they have a home or not.

A recent report by the US Interagency Council on Homelessness blasted the national wave of out-of-sight-out-of-mind laws affecting many of the country's roughly 643,000 street folk: "Criminalization policies further marginalize men and women who are experiencing homelessness, fuel inflammatory attitudes, and may even unduly restrict constitutionally protected liberties."

Rhode Island noticed. "Discrimination was out of control," says John Joyce, who lived for years without a roof over his head, and now works with the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP). Cops will kick drifters out of parks, but let students hang out, says Jim Ryczek, Executive Director of The Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless.

read more Rhode Island's Homeless Bill of Rights | Mother Jones

 

[California Girl]

Excellent.... everyone send your homeless to Rhode Island.

 

[Intense]

In recent months, several penny-pinched municipalities have taken a stab at eradicating homelessness by making indigence illegal. Cities from Berkeley to Philadelphia to St. Louis have moved to criminalize "acts of living" like sitting, lying down, or asking for change on the corner. In the face of this nationwide crackdown on transients, Rhode Island has decided to take the high road. Its Assembly just passed the country's first Homeless Bill of Rights, which Governor Lincoln Chafee is expected to sign into law early next week, declaring an equal right to jobs, housing, services, and public space for all inhabitants, whether they have a home or not.

A recent report by the US Interagency Council on Homelessness blasted the national wave of out-of-sight-out-of-mind laws affecting many of the country's roughly 643,000 street folk: "Criminalization policies further marginalize men and women who are experiencing homelessness, fuel inflammatory attitudes, and may even unduly restrict constitutionally protected liberties."

Rhode Island noticed. "Discrimination was out of control," says John Joyce, who lived for years without a roof over his head, and now works with the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP). Cops will kick drifters out of parks, but let students hang out, says Jim Ryczek, Executive Director of The Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless.

read more Rhode Island's Homeless Bill of Rights | Mother Jones

Interesting. Best way to deal with the Parks, is to close them daily, at some point in time, be it Dusk, Midnight, whatever. Nothing new here really, this is how the cycle goes. Shelters, Showers, Laundry, always help the Homeless. Day Labor, being paid the same day, makes a big difference too.