12-20-17 Health and Public Safety

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There is nothing that prevents a homeless person from living under a viaduct if that is their choice. The rights of the homeless include the right to be free from oppression in that regard. This is only a starting point and is designed to raise consciousness of the problem. He went on, As previously mentioned,the first Homeless Bill of Rights was enacted in Rhode Island in 2012. Prior to that in 1998, Puerto Rico enacted a very comprehensive Bill of Rights and they are quoted in the memorandum. Puerto Rico is a little bit different than the rest of the States because in the territory's constitution,homelessness or housing status is a suspect classification. This means they are entitled to additional rights simply because they are a suspect class such as being a minority. Ordinances or laws against a suspect class are subject to more scrutiny than any other class. The Puerto Rican Bill of Rights is very extensive and it grants many rights that no other Bill of Rights has granted. To be honest, I have not found any writings describing what effect the Puerto Rican Bill of Rights has had. I don't know if it has been a success,but it is very comprehensive. Rhode Island was the first state to enact a Bill of Rights in 2012 and it is their model that most cities and states have followed when enacting their own Bill of Rights. He then expounded the rights vested in Rhode Island's Bill of Rights. All in all there are seven(7)basic rights. There is a right to use and freely move in and around public spaces in the same manner as any other person without discrimination on the basis of housing status. There is a right to equal treatment of State and Municipal agencies without discrimination on the basis of housing status. There is also a right not to face discrimination in seeking or maintaining employment due to his or her lack of permanent mailing address, or the mailing address being that of a shelter or a social service provider. There is a right to emergency medical care free from discrimination based on his or her housing status. There is a right to vote, register to vote and receive necessary documentation to prove identity for voting without discrimination based on his or her housing status. There is a right to protection of disclosure of his or her personal records of information that are given to homeless shelters and other service providers without proper legal authority. He continued, There is a HIPA law where certain health information is protected from disclosure to essentially anyone without a waiver of confidentiality. Lastly,there is a right to reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her personal property. This means if you are staying under a viaduct or in a park, you have a right of privacy that someone,while you are gone, is not going to root through your belongings. Connecticut follows closely behind Rhode Island in passing a Homeless Bill of Rights. What is significant about Connecticut's is that it identified who the Statute was aimed at. There has been an emphasis throughout all cases on the right to rest in public spaces and the right to protect oneself from the elements in a non-obstructive manner. There is also a right to eat, share, accept or give food in any public space where food is not prohibited. Some municipalities had enacted ordinances that made it illegal to give food to homeless individuals. There is also an explicit right to occupy a motor vehicle provided the vehicle is legally parked on public property or private property with permission by the property owner. These rights, as you can see,were enacted to address the wrongs that were imposed by many municipalities across the country. He went on, Indianapolis has a different kind of model. Indianapolis battled with a Homeless Bill of Rights between their Council and their Mayor for three (3) or four(4) years. Indianapolis did try to pass a Homeless Bill of Rights similar to Rhode Island's. Though it passed their Council, it 3