Homeless Bill of Rights – Rhode Island

Activists aim to bolster Rhode Island’s homeless bill of rights, By Jake Grovum, November 12, 2012, Stateline: “Just two miles separate the Rhode Island State House from Amos House, a soup kitchen and service center that’s helped hundreds of thousands since opening in 1976. But it feels farther. Amos House sits amid a maze of narrow streets lined with subsidized housing and empty storefronts, past a string of convenience and liquor stores where homeless Rhode Islanders frequently gather. It’s near one of Providence’s ubiquitous homeless shelters – Crossroads – where battered women seek refuge and drug dealers often congregate outside. Advocates were looking to close the gap between Rhode Island’s homeless and the rest of the state’s citizenry when they convinced state lawmakers to approve the nation’s first Homeless Bill of Rights this past summer..”