Public activists suggested that the police identify the homeless and send them to work

The Public Chamber (COP) and the government’s Social Security Council have proposed identifying homeless people, identifying them with the help of the police, and sending them to work. A letter with the initiative was sent to the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health, it was signed by Council members Natalya Pochinok and Elena Topoleva-Soldunova (also a member of the OP).

Together with the letter, a project was sent to the Ministry of Social Development of the Moscow Region, which determines the procedure for interaction between authorities and organizations “to identify and arrange for people without a fixed place of residence.” Public activists suggested taking the document as a basis and using it in all regions.

According to the project, the homeless can be identified not only by law enforcement agencies and social organizations, but also by individuals and legal entities. They can report about the homeless by calling 112, in 20 minutes an ambulance and police should arrive at the place. Within three hours, the police must conduct fingerprinting and identification.

If the homeless person did not commit offenses, information about him is sent to the Center for Social Adaptation, which will determine the further course of action. Those who cannot serve themselves are sent to the center, those who are able-bodied are sent to “social labor houses”, women are sent to crisis centers. The homeless person has the right to refuse assistance.

The Ministry of Labor did not support the proposed formats for organizing the employment of the homeless, since the employment of citizens is already possible according to the norms of the Labor Code. “The adoption of the recommendations may create a situation where it will be impossible to help a person by law due to the fact that a particular case goes beyond the legal framework for determining a person in need of help,” they said. Vedomosti in the ministry.

The head of the Presidential Council for Human Rights, Valery Fadeev, said that he was “not enthusiastic about such a humanistic action.” In his opinion, most of the homeless do not want to work. “Not because they are particularly vicious or lazy. The main problem is that they are very difficult to socialize,” he said.

The number of homeless people in Russia has doubled to tripled during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, told “b” representatives of charitable organizations. At the same time, judging by the comments of officials and feedback from employees of charitable organizations, the number of places in shelters has not increased.

Laura Keffer