HOMELESS senior citizens in Cebu City will soon have a temporary shelter while the City Government contacts their relatives.
That is, if City Councilor Eugenio Gabuya Jr.’s proposed ordinance entitled “An Ordinance Establishing Senior Citizens Halfway House in Cebu City” is approved and implemented.
“Almost in every part of the city, there is an abandoned vagrant or homeless senior citizen,” Gabuya said.
The official said the draft legislation will provide a transition house for the elderly who are living on the streets.
Details on where the facility will be built or which existing City-owned property will be established as a halfway house have yet to be determined as of this writing.
The elderly will be under the facility’s care while the City Government gets in touch with their relatives.
Senior citizens, though, who are not residents and/or voters of Cebu City, shall not be confined in the halfway house beyond 15 days.
Should they fail to get hold of the relatives within two weeks, the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) will instead assist the elderly in looking for a place
to stay.
The funding for the operation of the halfway house will be charged to the annual budget of the social welfare office.
The DSWS and the Office of the Senior Citizens Affairs are tasked to formulate the implementing rules and regulations once the measure is passed.
The City Council referred Gabuya’s ordinance to the committee on laws for review during its regular session last Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. (JJL)