2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHT - Public Welfare and Charitable Institutions (§§ 1 — 1422) › Chapter 37A - Multi-Sector Homeless Population Support Council (§§ 1006 — 1006h) › § 1006b - Public policy

The Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recognizes the need to propitiate, promote, plan and implement the development of services and facilities to address the needs of these persons, in order to enable their participation in the Puerto Rican community and allow them to continue and/or maintain a social and productive life. Services should be offered in an integrated manner, by multiple sectors, envisioning them as a continuous care system that guarantees that services and housing modalities are offered uninterruptedly, whereby the various sectors share the responsibilities of carrying out so important an effort.
Predicated under the concept of co-responsibility, it is hereby established that:
(a) The public policy regarding homeless persons is based on the following principles:
(1) Homeless persons are entitled to a life of dignity and to fully enjoy all the human and citizen rights that protect them, including the right to freely and responsibly use and enjoy public spaces and the right to housing.
(2) Homeless persons should be validated, supported, protected and empowered, in order for them to be able to assume individual, familial and social duties and responsibilities, including the obligation to take care of themselves, to make a commitment toward self-respect and their personal development, and toward contributing with their talents to social cohesion and development.
(3) Homeless persons should receive services that include but are not limited to: emergency shelters; transitory and permanent housing; daytime centers; detoxification from and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse; nourishment, nutrition, hygiene, clothing, and access to restroom facilities and showers; home primary and specialized services to attend to physical and mental health; legal support and representation; police and judicial protection; information and orientation about their citizen rights; social assistance; education and training; job placement; opportunities for the development of their entrepreneurial capabilities directed to generating sufficient financial income; family reunification; and other support services, among others.
(b) This public policy:
(1) Recognizes that the Government is one among the different service providers and that the entities which have proven to be the most capable and effective should have the resources needed to offer services; therefore, the principle of an efficient multi-sector coordination is hereby privileged.
(2) Establishes the designation of the Municipal Liaison Official for Interagency Homeless Assistance, who may be a municipal employee carrying out similar tasks at the time of the approval of this act, in order to serve as the liaison between the homeless persons and the services offered in the municipalities, whether through for profit or nonprofit private or public entities.
(3) Proposes the establishment of alliances among all sectors that are directly or indirectly involved in this issue. Possible contributions are listed by sector, as follows:
(A) The various agencies and instrumentalities of the Central Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico make the commitment and assume the responsibility for procuring, providing, facilitating and coordinating effective services, such as social support, housing, physical and mental health services, safety, and training and job opportunities, responsibly and respectfully for homeless persons. Furthermore, they make the commitment to conduct the efforts necessary to oversee and enforce the human and citizen rights that protect this population and to report on the feasibility of providing greater access to financial resources, from the Government and from external sources as well, and to technical assistance for the development of projects covering an array of housing modalities and for rendering services, and to guarantee an ample dissemination of information to all interested sectors.
(B) The municipal governments, represented by the Municipal Liaison Officer for Interagency Homeless Assistance, given their close ties to the community, shall be responsible for guaranteeing that the homeless receive the best direct basic services in a respectful and responsible manner; these services include social support, housing, physical and mental health services, safety, training, and job opportunities, thereby implementing work and collaboration plans among agencies and instrumentalities of the Government of Puerto Rico and community and faith-based organizations, while safeguarding their municipal autonomy. Furthermore, municipal governments shall coordinate with the community organizations in their area that receive funds to provide the above-mentioned services, so that such services are rendered in a more coordinated, efficient, prompt, and sensitive manner. Additionally, municipal governments shall eliminate from Public Law and Order Codes, and from any other regulation or resolution, any clause which penalizes and threatens the life and safety of or which violates the human and citizen rights that protect this population and take any necessary steps to oversee and ensure that such rights are protected in all sectors of society.
(C) Community-based entities, as well as the business, the nonprofit, and the faith-based sectors, shall be responsible for guaranteeing that the needs of homeless persons are addressed respectfully and responsibly. These entities, together with all other sectors, shall form an effective service provider network whereby each shall contribute with their particular services in support of actions to give integrated attention to the problems and needs of homeless persons.
(D) The private sector, as part of its social and entrepreneurial responsibility, is hereby included in this service and sector network, to support the efforts of all other partners in this endeavor and to promote and support the efforts to raise awareness in the general population on the diversity of elements involved in this issue through publicity campaigns and education promoting basic services.
(E) The Legislature shall be diligent in contributing to this alliance by requiring, investigating and receiving information from administrators, by overseeing programs in order to ensure compliance with this public policy, and by making public disclosure of the services offered by entities.
(F) The whole of society should join efforts to seek solutions that conform to human rights and uphold values such as respect for life, for dignity, and for solidarity, as is characteristic of our people.
(G) The central government, together with community entities, the municipal governments and the private sector, should:
(i) Formulate and implement strategies which enable the empowerment of homeless persons and their full participation in the community with dignity. These strategies should be directed toward transforming the way in which this issue has been traditionally perceived and toward offering approaches, strategies and solutions whereby all social sectors assume their responsibilities with solidarity, in order to contribute to significantly improve the living conditions of homeless persons.
(ii) Support strategies leading to prevention, intervention, community activism, coordination of services, specialized attention, and sensitive and effective follow-up, among other things. Appeal to consensus, collaboration, tolerance, shared responsibility and personal empowerment.
(iii) Prohibit the persecution, the penalization, the coercion and punitive, exclusivist and discriminatory approaches in seeking temporary or permanent solutions to the problems of homeless persons.
(iv) Articulate as a whole, those strategies directed to obtaining a housing unit; to the empowerment of homeless persons; to the affirmation of all their human and civil rights; to providing access to educative, educational and recreational activities; to their exercising of their citizen and social responsibilities and obligations; and to providing experiences that, to the extent their individual capabilities allow, enable them to generate their own income and to lead a healthy and independent life with dignity.
History —Sept. 27, 2007, No. 130, § 4; Dec. 10, 2010, No. 191, §§ 3, 4.