Joe Issa Calls for New Law in 2016 To Force Street People into Shelter, Treat with DignityA Story by Sally ShivCivic Leader and Philanthropist Joe Issa, has called for new legislation in 2016 to force homeless people off the streets and into special care facilities with appropriate rehabilitation programmes anCivic Leader and Philanthropist Joe Issa, has called for new legislation in 2016 to force homeless people off the streets and into special care facilities with appropriate rehabilitation programmes and for them to be treated with dignity. “It cannot be overlooked that here we are with food to eat and place to sleep while another set of human beings live on the streets on leftovers in rubbish bins and sleep on sidewalks and open spaces on cardboard,” argues Issa, who has several charities to his name.
In
2010 there were 1,450 homeless people in Jamaica, of which 650 were adults and
800 or so children and adolescents. About 60 per cent of the males were
mentally ill and drug abusers and 10 per cent were deportees.
The
homeless were concentrated in the major urban centres such as Kingston and St
Andrew with 50 per cent and the rest in places like Montego Bay, May Pen and
coastal resort towns like Ocho Rios.
The Cool
Corporation chairman adds that “forcing them to leave the street
for care and attention and a place to sleep, must be seen as an act of kindness
which they are legally bound to accept for their own good and protection.”
Recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to
get local officials to force homeless people into shelters when the temperature
reaches freezing point (32 degrees Fahrenheit or O degrees Celsius) and vowed
to defend the proclamation if challenged in court. Like Issa, Governor Cuomo called his edict to get them out of the freezing cold an act of humanity.
“Our
state, which has a beautiful tradition of social progress and community, should
not leave anyone outside in freezing temperatures. That’s called basic
humanity,” said Cuomo, in an interview on New York City news channel NY1 reported
by Reuters.
According
to the article, “New York and other big U.S. cities have long wrestled with the
dilemma of dealing with homeless people who refuse to be taken to shelters,
even in the most, bitter cold. Many of them fear falling victim to crime in the
shelters.”
Unlike the New York Governor,
however, Issa’s humanity goes beyond having the law to force them to leave
Jamaican streets only when they are in imminent danger, such as the approach of
a hurricane.
According to Issa, “living on the
streets as we know it should be outlawed and those found liable are to be taken
into shelter, but they are not to be abused and disrespected and are to be
given the best rehabilitative care possible.”
Jamaica
is not as fortunate as New York which has 80,000 homeless people and 77,000
shelter beds. “To accommodate the homeless on the island will require a huge increase in the number of shelter rooms, as we can expect the homeless figures to increase every year,” Issa says, blaming the economic situation in which many are losing their jobs and the five per cent of the 3,000 deportees who arrive here every year with no family in Jamaica.
Issa says “we need to
build a number of centres to meet the needs of homeless people in Jamaica, some
of whom need psychiatric care, some need health care while others need positive
engagements such as introduction to gainful employment, and when they have
graduated there must be a home waiting to welcome them, otherwise they will go
back to the streets and all the efforts will have to no avail.”
© 2017 Sally Shiv |
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Added on April 26, 2017 Last Updated on April 26, 2017 Tags: joe Issa, Joe Issa Jamaica, Joseph Issa, Joseph Issa Jamaica, Joey Issa, Joey Issa Jamaica, Jamaica, Street People, Homeless People. Author
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