Photo credit: Matt Collamer
The lack of a permanent home is an obvious problem that homeless people deal with every day. But many of them also deal with constant discrimination resulting from their status – from the city, from law enforcement, and perhaps especially from fellow citizens.
Homeless people are consistently marginalized, passed up for the few employment opportunities that come their way, and targeted for crime like theft and assault.
But an ordinance introduced in city council this past week seeks to squash the lack of basic human decency in dealing with homeless Jaxsons.
Ordinance 2018-308 was introduced last week by council member Katrina Brown. Brown has come under fire during her stint in city council for the taxpayer price tag of her family business’s bankruptcy proceedings, but she also represents a district which contains most of Jacksonville’s poorest neighborhoods – making her, at least in theory, an authority on the needs of the city’s most vulnerable residents.
The ordinance begins by addressing the existence of discrimination against homeless people by public agencies, the police, and fellow citizens, and asserts the goal of raising awareness and assuring that no human’s basic rights are trampled – regardless of their housing status.
If ratified, the ordinance would guarantee the following rights to homeless individuals in Jacksonville:
This new “homeless bill of rights” would become the city’s standard operating procedure in its interactions with homeless individuals, and would be circulated to all city employees to promote awareness.
The ordinance will have to pass through the Rules Committee and the Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee prior to a vote from council.
But if passed, it may be an important step in changing attitudes toward homeless people in Jacksonville from disgust and disdain to empathy and helpfulness.
What do YOU think about the Homeless Bill of Rights proposal? Let us know in the comments section below, or on social media!
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View Comments
Occupying a legally parked car may require some changes to parking rules or we will end up with homeless people living in cars on the street.
The photo of the older gentlemen holding a sign that says “seeking human kindness” is eerily close to a photo of a man who used to walk the streets of Queen West in Toronto. In this photo, he seems to be on one of the platforms of a subway station in Toronto. What a strange coincidence. Eh?
Is there anything protecting the rights of citizens to not be harassed or accosted by the homeless? I was walking through Hemming Park one midday...straight line, mind you, and a very large, obviously angry homeless person veered in my direction, shoved me, and shouted, "GET OUTTA MY WAY, CRACKA!" Honestly, having never been called Cracker, to my face anyway, I laughed at him, which made him even more mad. At any rate, a lot of people would not have reacted the same way, and likely would have been cited for some sort of "discrimination" under this new Bill of Rights.
Dislike. It needs to be rewritten.
One homeless person calls you a "cracka" and now they all need to suffer, huh?
Yes, because obviously that’s exactly what I said.
One would think that we would all have the right to not be accosted or assaulted, but you seem to disagree...
Obviously, you’re in support of homeless having waaaaay MORE rights than the average “homed” citizen.
Two can play at that game.
Kenny, how is anything named in the proposed ordinance assuring any rights that the average citizen doesn’t already have? Really the best argument against this is that it’s redundant, it just guarantees basic human rights. If you think basic human rights are too much, then we’re gonna have to agree to disagree.
My first comment was relating a story. My second comment is clearly sarcasm, directed at someone that, in typical Interweb fashion, disagrees with me in a way that is trying to make me defend my position, of which I owe no one an explanation past what I said in the original post. It was not polite debate, it was a typical liberal heavy-handed tactic to try and make me look bad. Not gonna work.
Sorry I didn’t switch to my Sarcasm font.
Ready to be banned now.
We don’t ban anyone for having a discussion! We welcome it. No one, including Floyd, is attacking you. Not even the homeless guy was - I’m sure you would be grumpy if you lived in Hemming Park too. ? Try to listen and understand, no need to go on the defensive. We are all part of the Jacksonville family here!
I wish people would realize homelessness does not only affect adults, but that there are many young children who are homeless in our city.
Most people are lucky enough to never actually need to give critical thought to the idea of being homeless and what it might entail. And that’s great, except that it means they form uneducated opinions about the homeless as a result of never really giving it a lot of thought.